Less Is More

What Happens in Vegas...Stays in Vegas!

2010-10-02T09:00:00.022-04:00

Well unless you get married- then the marriage certificate comes home with ya! Yep, Matt and I finally did it:-) We flew to Vegas a couple of weeks ago and got married on September 19th at the same Chapel my parents did over 30 years ago, Chapel of the Bells. It was just Matt and I and two awesome friends from California that were there. My wonderful photographer friend, Sharon, came and took pics for us! (but I only have a few from that shoot so far!) Her hubby Paul used my camera some for some quick shots too.
The Nut and LimmyKins stayed at Parker Dog Camp & Resort where they partook in lake activities and coyote chasing...dogs nor coyotes were harmed.

I found the perfect Vegas dress that was short in the front and long in the back...got it at David's Bridal off the "As Is" rack for under $300! It fit perfect, I didn't think I'd be able to pull off the strapless with my smallish chest, but I did! Yay! and I can't wait to "Trash" it next year with the dogs and Lester!
I did my own hair and was a disaster with the curling iron. I wanted to do a few more curls, but I think I would have ended up burning my face off if I had attempted it.
Poor Matt was still trying to figure out why I put him in a purple tie, I'm sure I'll never live it down
Elevator ride down to go get married. It was fun walking around the hotel and mall, everyone was so nice and giving us best wishes.
A couple that the awesome Sharon took! I can't wait to see the rest of them!
In the car off to get married!
OK we're married now! This was taken on the hotel balcony where we stayed...NOT! Actually it was just a really cheesy hotel attached to the Chapel that I thought would be a fun place to take pics. And it was
I know what this looks like-LOL! Great pic and timing Paul!
This is where we actually stayed...
Later we found a Dressage statue to pose with. After Sharon and Paul left we were lucky to get some pics together by passer bys, it was very nice of them.
and another horse statue! Yes I wish we had found these before all the wedding pics were taken:-(

This ROOM was amazing, it really felt like we were outside, but this was smack dab right in the middle of the mall of the hotel we stayed at. Everything was so cool, but expensive! We gambled some, but lost in the end. It was fun though and you're supposed to lose money in Vegas right? Looking back I wish Matt and I had gone to a show, organized our site seeing better and just done more and saw more and take more pics! But I was an idiot and packed the worst shoes for air travel and lots of walking so the first day and a half I didn't want to go anywhere and plus I couldn't really focus and let lose until after the whole marriage thing, but by then it was time to fly home, LOL. And I wish my family could have been there. At the time I didn't think it would bother me too bad if they didn't come (I know money is tight and we kinda planned it last minute), but it would have been so nice to have my parents there, heck they could have renewed their vows while we were there! No offense mom and dad, but that Chapel is so cheesy! From the low ceilings to the green carpet and fake candles in the corner and "old" building smell- LOL They wouldn't let Sharon take any inside photos and after THEY took all the photos of us inside they told us it would be another $500 to buy them...I bought 5 photos and I'm still waiting on them. We do have a video of the ceremony, but I don't know if I'm brave enough to post it...I was laughing at the beginning and couldn't really stop and then just got this total serious bitch face look...Matt just looks like a robot:-)

Dog Days of Summer

2010-06-12T09:15:00.000-04:00

I don't think my Nut could look anymore relaxed do you? I'm going to have to get her her own sunglasses and find her a doggie friendly float.

I promise you she's not frozen in fear, she's loving every minute of it.

She actually does a little swimming in this one!

Looks like I got caught in the act of doing something naughty huh? Lester LOVES to be hosed off in the summer and makes sure I get his sweatiest parts by hiking his leg up like a dog.

Limo wanted no part of the day at the pool and she stayed in my sister's van.

Weeds are Purty!

2010-05-27T13:20:00.045-04:00

I love when the back pasture isn't mowed and I can take my "Spring pics":-) Well it's May again and Lester celebrated yet another "Rebirthday". Can you believe that it's been 3 years since his colic surgery? Sometimes it seems like just yesterday I almost lost him...Even though I had to retire him from all riding this year I still don't regret my decision to do surgery. And I don't regret my decision of retiring him. I have found my peace with it and I am so lucky and so happy to be riding again even if it's not on my favorite horse.

My little ray of sunshine:-)

As a friend pointed out on Facebook, here's an "Action shot" LOL.

OK, now for some REAL action shots. I know what you guys are thinking, "He's retired?!" I was kinda thinking the same thing that day. But through all the bucking and running I can still see his stiffness, compensation and head bobbing. He really did learn to compensate well and trick us all into thinking he was really sound. Just the other day I walked him out of his stall and he was holding his head really stiff like he had a crick in his neck. I took him into the barn and he about fell into my arms while a massaged his neck and back and it seemed to help. I still can't believe how stiff and hard he was on his right side all through our riding days. Riding other horses correctly has really been a challenge for me because it was always about softening that right side of him- take, take, take -GIVE! Now I give to the other horses too much and don't hold a steady contact- but I'm getting better! For the last 2 months I have ridden on average 4-6 times a week and on several occasions 2 horses a day. I still can't believe I'm riding again!:-) I didn't even know how much I missed it really, I'm just so

lucky that all these opportunities have presented themselves when they did. I'm still riding the 2 Arabians and have started taking a weekly lesson with the owner on one of her boys. I've improved alot if I do say so myself:-) During one of the lessons she gave me such a wake up call. I never realized I didn't have my (inside) leg underneath me and at the girth, I know I've been told in the past to put it at the girth, but I never realized how far back my leg was and rending it pretty useless! I hope to have a video soon.

Ya I don't know what to say about this shot nor how I actually captured it! I'm usually too early or too late!

This pic makes me laugh because Less is actually scratching his on leg with his other foot and it was making him do the lip stretch and head turn of "Oh yeah, that's the spot". He is so freaking cute. Course I eventually had to put the camera down and scratch it for him and you know what happened next? He "dropped" on my head:-x Yeah, exactly what you're thinking. I was scratching his ankles and ending up crunching under him and then felt "something" hit my head. At least I was wearing a hat for protection! LOL

I know I have been a terrible blogger!:-( Both reader and writer! I'm going to try and do better I've just been so busy! I am never home anymore, just ask Matt, he reminds me of that everyday. He still won't let me forget he had to eat a bag of popcorn and a can of black beans one night.

It's a small world after all...

2010-04-05T21:00:00.004-04:00

Here's a pic of JB that I took the other day...

Remember when I first got the new boots and I was so excited about them that I wore them back to work? Well check out this "It's a small world" story... One of the contractors that work for the company I work for noticed my boots and told me his wife rode. And better yet, rode dressage. Even better she rode with Gigi Nutter, the instructor I've ridden with on and off for the last 15 years. I told him to hook me up with some horses to ride! He said he'd talk to his wife, but you know how that goes, if you don't personally know someone you're leery about letting them on your horse...I'm the same way. The same week Gigi knew I was looking for a horse(s) to ride and knew someone that was having to move her horse pretty quick and that she'd talk to the owner about leasing him and keeping him at the farm. Turns out the owner did not want to lease him and had already moved him to a new farm. No biggie, I completely understood especially because it was after the leasing conversation that I put all the pieces together that we did "know" each other even though we had never met yet:-) Plus I had Billy and JB to keep me busy and CJ for that short time. So after I figured out who was who I talked more with my contractor friend and he evidently talked to his wife because I got a Facebook invite from her and the rest is history:-) just kidding...but really we chatted on FB one day and set up a time for me to come ride her horse and then asked if I would ride him while she's out of town during Spring Break... did I mention she keeps her horse at a farm that is only like 15 minutes from my home and work AND that the 2 Arabians just moved to the same place! I also got to ride the barn owner's mare on Friday and was asked to ride her this week while she's away. I've been riding my butt off lately and it feels great. I really thought I had lost the will and want to ever ride again. But it's definitely back.

Here's a video from 2 weeks ago of me riding Billy (at the old farm)...I'm learning a lot from him. I really need to have more support on that outside rein and he lets me know it!

I lied!

2010-03-24T12:25:00.009-04:00

So much for my New Year's resolutions! I sent CJ back to his owner a couple of weeks ago, we just didn't click. He wanted to constantly take off and was just so nervous. I think he was sore and I just really didn't want to work through something like that again, I want something I can just get on and ride. Selfish maybe, but I think I've put in enough sideline time trying to figure out why a horse is acting a certain way.

I'm still riding the 2 dressage Arabians regularly so I don't feel like I've lost much. I also might start working some of the green Arabians too so right now I don't have a shortage of rides. I also feel less guilty about riding other horses when Lester isn't there to see me:-) he's like a jealous boyfriend and gets so mad and whiny. But damn, he is cute.

This is Billy, he's 3rd level and looks like a little warmblood. Gosh does he make me work for it, I've never ridden a horse before that required so much leg and for one to have NO reaction to my legs! Even my new magic boots can't save me! His owner gave me a lounge lesson on him last Saturday to work on my sitting trot and I thought I was going to die, I am so freaking weak. I haven't been able to ask for any of the fun stuff like shoulder in or half pass because I still can barely get him to move. It takes all my energy to just keep him forward. It's embarrassing actually!

The little gray one is JB aka Jumper Bunny. Apparently he liked to jumped out of his pasture as a weanling and stir up all kinds of trouble. He's a sweety though. He's 2nd level and I can get him to move a bit better, but it still takes everything I got. Both Billy and JB are very level headed and really nice to ride. I think I have been spoiled by forward thoroughbreds for too long and I'm really paying the price now. Lester never would just die out on me if I took my leg off him and didn't take much gas either:-)

Poor JB had a bout with colic last week let's hope he's completely over it. The weather has been crazy lately so that was no help. One day it's in the 70's and the next it's snowing, but that's Georgia for you.

My boots in action!

2010-02-09T19:02:00.010-05:00

Oh and the first video of me riding CJ:-) I'm not terribly impressed with my position:-/, but I'm still trying to be very soft and quiet which means I don't want to sit too deep and can't put my legs on him much right now. The EXACT opposite from the other 2 Arabians I've been riding. They both take a lot of leg...Even though CJ looks fairly relaxed and quiet in the video he still anticipates too much and just wants to go go go. He wants to do it all right and all right now. He just worries too much and still gets too quick then curls that neck and puts his head to his chest.

When he canters going right he throws in little bucks, but doesn't seem to do it going to the left. I hope it's just because he's weaker on his right hind and the bucks will go away once he gets stronger.

I've been locking the dogs out of the riding area lately, but I have to say that the they did a pretty good job at staying out of my way and Peanut not trailing too close, but I think she was thrown off and confused because my sister, Jen, was the one filming and she probably thought she was me:-) Speaking of my sis I let her hop on CJ. She used to ride and have horses also, but then got very competitive in the dog agility, obedience and training world (all with greyhounds I might add).

Go go Ariat Boots!

2010-02-02T19:42:00.000-05:00

I LOVE my new boots! They have given me my riding identity back. They do for me what a cape does for a Super Hero:-) I rode 3 horses last Thursday...go go Ariat boots! My long time instructor hooked me up to ride a student's 2 Arabians while she recovers from her hip replacement surgery. After riding one of them 2 weeks ago and barely fit enough to ride for more than 20 minutes is when I made the decision to go ahead and lease CJ. I have got to be in riding shape when an opportunity like this comes along, to work two very lovely dressage horses, one is training 2nd level and the other 3rd. Thursday was a perfect day in the high 50's and even though I'm technically off from the barn on Thursdays I left work early to go hop on CJ before going and riding the two Arabians.
Here is a lunging clip of CJ. I should have put him in side reins, I know. I think lunging really revs him up because he was a speed racer that night when I got on. Just wanted to go go go. He's still nervous because everything is still very new to him, but he's getting better and only pooping once now while we tack up! Gosh I miss that about Lester, he rarely, if ever pooped while I tacked him up or untacked him. I got on CJ the other day and just walked, not sure he's ever done that before:-) He seemed a bit shocked.

I can't do a post and not mention my Less Man:-) Whether it's his halter or someone Else's he loves to grab them. I had to switch him to his leather halter because since it's stiffer than his nylon one it's easier to sneak over his nose quicker. He always looks so defeated when he tries to grab for it and misses it:-)

Meet CJ the lease horse

2010-01-29T15:43:00.000-05:00

So CJ, aka Cody's Missfire arrived last Saturday. So much for my New Year's resolution of blogging more! We put him out with Lester and Fella and they have all done very well together. Lester hasn't bullied him too badly even though he is jealous and King of the pasture. CJ likes to stay to himself for the most part. He needs some weight and some muscle so we are just going to take it slow, but hey, that's what I'm best at- starting over and going slow... It might not look like it, but CJ is quite the mover. I will get some video of that soon. The first 2 days after he arrived the weather was cold and wet, not good camera weather. I've hopped on him twice since Saturday and he wants to be a little speed demon, but he half-halts well so no worries. He's an ex-eventer so was trained to go be very forward, I imagine he'll like a slower pace when he figures it all out. I kinda feel like this is where Less and I left off. I mean he's been out to pasture for a year and out of work, but knows his job and does lateral work. He's got such a baby face, you can't tell he's 17 can you?
Cody's Missfire got his name because his daddy, (Cody something) jumped the fence one day and bred a mare he shouldn't have. CJ is an Arabian-Paint cross, but I forget which parent was which.

Ya think Less is showing a bit of his jealous side? LOL

Belated Xmas pics and Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T22:19:00.000-05:00

I finally got some pics with the Santa hat on the Pigman:-) I really need to just accept the fact that I can get only 2 poses, well 3 out of the horse..."a grazing face plant", "forced hug" or the famous "begging/tongue" poses... he is the absolute worst model for anything else! But I do still love the impossible beast... he makes up for it in other ways like herding up his pasturemates and getting them to the gate when it's time. He's also the messiest horse when it comes to his stall, he doesn't care where his manure piles end and hay begins:-/ but the girl that does the stalls now said he makes up for that fact in personality alone, I'd have to agree:-) He is still the sweetest horse I have ever known.

So what are your New Year resolutions? I don't usually have any, but this year it's to ride more and keep a cleaner house (I know, stroke, huh) oh and be a better blogger-post/read/comment more! The Arabian, Basonge that I rode and posted about a few times was actually sold last month to a great home in Tennessee. But with new boots I had to find another mount so I will be leasing a horse soon...more to come on that:-)

Deal of the year!

2009-12-21T11:09:00.003-05:00

I have an "online" friend that lives in NY that spotted these Ariat Hunter Zip Dress boots in a Vintage consignment shop and posted on her facebook page that she'd buy and ship them to whomever wanted them (paying her back of course)...lucky me was online at the time and they were my size :-o it's scary not trying on boots first before you buy them, but these boots are normally $380 and she found them for sale for $90 and they are BARELY even used! I couldn't pass it up.

The feet fit perfect, but I can only zip them when wearing my thinnest pair of breeches - I was hoping to pose in my $.01 Taylor Sportsman breeches I scored the year before, but they are too thick. The calves are gonna have to stretch out more before I can wear them with these boots.

I was so excited the day they came in the mail that I wore them back to work, it is the style after all right? Maybe this week I will actually get to try them out while riding.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-19T23:00:00.005-05:00

I wanna run to you..

2009-11-24T18:19:00.008-05:00

Doesn't this look like a clip from a gushy chick flick of 2 long lost lovers?

It wasn't. Limo has her bad habit back of chasing horses:-x I broke her of the habit a couple of years ago with a Citronella spray collar and it worked, but she has started up again. I keep meaning to put it back on her I just have to find the pieces. It has a noise warning, and then 2 spray settings to choose from, I would just blast her full spray with no warning when I used it:-) It made me feel powerful, it was great.

I hope Lester is enjoying his retirement. He seems to be. He's still the boss of his herd and still comes running when you call. He has picked up this very annoying habit though in the last year and it's gotten worse, but he grabs his halter and the other halters if you're not careful and won't let go. He grabs the nose band as you're pulling it over his nose, if you get that far then you have to be fast enough before he bites the cheek straps otherwise you get into a game of tug-o-war for him:-/ Sometimes it's cute, but other times I just want to get the halter on and the others haltered and back to the barn, oh say when it's pouring down raining!

Spooky Shirt

2009-10-08T10:52:00.008-04:00

Yes this is a cheap ploy for you all to buy a T-shirt I designed:-) Every year Southeastern Greyhound Club hosts a "Greyfest" and this year it falls on October 31 so I got to design a logo with a Halloween theme. Greyfest is a day of fun for greyhounds and their owners-games, contests, shopping and more!

I'm very happy with how it came out:-) The design can be purchased on anything Cafepress offers- shirts, cards, bags etc and of course the proceeds benefits greyhounds! I need to have mine printed up with just the words Spooky on it for my late greyhound...

I thought this pic was funny, good ol Limo. I've stayed true to Lester's retirement he's just a pasture/barn ornament now. He's getting his fuzzy fall coat in so he's been an itchy boy. He LOVES to be groomed and will stand all day for a curry comb. I'm glad he enjoys it and isn't a typical thin skinned TB that doesn't like it.

Is it wrong of me to be sorta glad when Less is moving funny? I still think he's comfortable enough, but there is just something def' off about him. It's just much easier to stay off of him when I see that things aren't right. He still runs and plays and of course looks pretty fine, but so does my friend's dog that has a spinal injury- you can't tell anything is wrong with her until you see her walk.

Stick a fork in us...we're done

2009-08-23T18:50:00.020-04:00

I know I've said this before, but I mean it this time. No more riding Lester. I haven't posted about him in a long time because I guess I knew this is where we were heading again, but I wasn't ready to admit it. It started back in June when I started having second thoughts again. A friend of mine needed horses and riders for a photo shoot for a local stable and so my friends and I agreed to trailer over and be the models for the photos. We had about 2 weeks to prepare, I wasn't getting on Lester a whole lot, maybe once or twice every couple of weeks, but I thought I should get on him a little more just so he'd be ready. I don't feel I over did it, we walked alot and would do a few trot sets and rode for a total of about 15-20 mins. He seemed OK up until the last day or so before the photo shoot. He was really tense and chewed on the bit nervously. The day of the shoot I bathed him and braided his mane and made him all pretty. We trailered over and Less was a nervous wreck, more so than I thought he'd be. I was surprised he didn't really "spook" at any one thing, but he felt like a ticking time bomb the whole time. It wasn't much fun for me. When I first got on him I could feel a "hump" in his back and he chomped on the bit constantly. I'm so disappointed in most of the photos, they didn't get one good action shot, the timing on his legs were all wrong. It felt like they were taking a million pics too, I thought for sure there would be some good ones. He blew up twice and I knew not to push him too much so we only trotted. I can't even remember the last time we cantered.
After the photo shoot I gave him a month off. I'm not sure if it was the trailer ride over there and back that did it, but he seemed to be stiffer in his neck than ever. He started blowing up again when I would tack him up and girth him. His eyes would get really wide and he'd just try to bolt even though as always I had girthed him as slowly as I could and let him walk every other hole I girthed. Trotting in hand would immediately get him chomping and grinding the bit. I would think to myself what the hell am I doing and would feel sick to my stomach about getting on my own horse:-( But he is mine and I wanted to prove I, we, could still do it. When I got on he had a fast, nervous walk and a hump in his back. Ready to explode, it was no longer fun, only nerve racking for the both of us. He spooked endlessly, jumped at every little thing, even things that he was facing like a car driving up the driveway. I had two rides like that and decided he needed the chiropractor and I wouldn't attempt riding him again until I had her out. The chiropractor has come and gone. He needed adjustments in his neck, hips, lower back and shoulders. The lower back was a a new one which explained the hump in his back and blowing up while being tacked up. I put him on a new supplement, Remission, it's supposed to help him break down sugars in his body, she said he's very achy in his joints. The chiropractor said I could get on him 2 days later after the adjustments, but I waited another 2 1/2 weeks.
So today I was going to get back on him. Tacking him up went smoothly. He didn't panic and freak out about the girth. I led him out to the riding area and was just walking around when he started tucking his butt and trying to bolt. He started his nervous chomping and would not settle. He kept trying to bolt and buck. I got the lunge line and put him on it and he trotted a few circles and then just blew up. He was bucking and rearing and almost went over. And this wasn't just a "I feel good because I haven't done any work lately buck", it was a panic. I stopped him and reset his saddle and pad and regirthed him. He turned his head to the right and was biting at the saddle. I made sure nothing was poking him and sent him out again and had the same reaction, bucking and rearing. I took the saddle off and sent him out again, he didn't buck or rear, but he was short stepping and lame now. There's just no point to it, no fun in it and it's far too dangerous to try and ride him anymore.

One tough Nut...

2009-07-19T19:45:00.015-04:00

Thought I would post some fun pics of the Nut... We have almost had her for a year now and she keeps growing on me:-) She really turned out to be the perfect farm dog, though still follows too intently while I'm on horse back, but lets face it I don't do much riding anymore anyways.
Friday night while I was watching Matt fish Peanut heard the kennel dogs barking and ran to check things out. She was running along the hillside and I yelled out to her "don't fall", just then she hit a hole and did a complete somersault and ate it big time. She yelped, but got up immediately, seemed a bit stunned, but then came running over to be as if nothing ever happened. I checked out her toes, limbs and back and didn't find any ouchy spots. But I got her to lay down in the lake for a good 10 mins and let the cool water help keep any swelling down. I was shocked come Saturday morning, OK it was really afternoon because cause that's been I finally got up:-p, but she wasn't limping or anything. I expected her to be very sore and stiff, but it's like nothing happened at all. It wasn't a pretty fall and she ate alot of dirt so we are very lucky she didn't get hurt!

She was waiting patiently in the wash stall for me to come hose her off...

Don't worry, that's not a real duck...

Limo and the Nut slow dancing...

Gotta love the Nut's attitude towards Limi, even when she's about to get Karate chopped!

Peanut enjoying a nice soak in the lake...

Dog Vacumming 101

2009-06-15T21:47:00.000-04:00

no making fun of my white legs!

Fun Limo Pics

2009-06-10T21:16:00.015-04:00

For Sale: H/J very "typey"

Dunnanana Bat dog

Dumbo dog

and my personal favorite:-) Bat sh*t crazy vampire dog

How a gelding ruins a photo...

2009-06-03T12:34:00.003-04:00

Such a pretty picture or so I thought at first.

It's now been over 2 years...

2009-05-25T17:51:00.001-04:00

Ever since May 12, 2007, Lester has had two birthdays a year. April 28th is his "official" one and May 12 is his ReBirthday... It's been over 2 years now since Lester had his colic surgery, the whole reason this blog was started. It seems like forever ago now...but I can still remember how surreal that whole day felt and it's safe to say that Lester and I both are big Auburn fans now. Lester was a very lucky boy and a huge part of it was Laura finding him so early. She found him at the same gate, same area where I found Chase, it's like they know that is where to go and can be seen, the other gate, the one we use daily is harder to see. I feel so lucky to have a second chance with Less. I won't go into all the detail of that day or month or year really, I've linked this post to where it all started if you're interested.
We're just really fortunate the goofy guy is still around.

Lester, I love you big guy!

Thank you everyone for your nice comments about Chase. He is missed, but we are all doing well at the farm.

We'll miss you Chase

2009-05-12T11:13:00.013-04:00

Saturday evening Chase evidently took a terrible and tragic fall in the pasture. Matt had come to the farm with me to do some fishing that night. Since I rode Less, I didn't get the horses turned out until about 6:45pm. I walked Chase, Bobby, and Andy all up to the pasture and turned them loose. They did the usual "where is my carrot" routine and each one got one. They all just mosied away from the gate. About 10 minutes later I was in the barn giving Limo a bath (she was filthy from "helping" Matt fish) and Matt came in and said Chase had hurt his leg and I needed to go check on him. He said that he saw them running around and making a commotion and then saw Chase not looking right, though he didn't see him go down. He went and got a closer look and immediately knew it wasn't good and that's when he ran to the barn to get me. He was calm and collected- I could learn a lot from him.
I walked out of the barn enough to see Chase through the trees heading for the back gate of the big pasture, completely 3 legging it. I ran back in the barn and grabbed an extra halter and lead rope because his was at the other gate on the other side of the driveway- this would be faster. I grabbed it and also grabbed my cell phone as I knew I would need it. I ran to the gate where Chase was heading and told him I was coming to Ho and be still, he whinnied and kept coming. I got the halter on him and blood was coming from his right nostril, his right leg was just there and dangling. I called Laura and got her voicemail. I called one of the vet's cell number and got a voice mail. I called a friend and got her voicemail- all within span of 2 minutes and it sent me into a panic. With my new blackberry I didn't have the vet's office number, and at first forgot how to even dial a number-but Laura works for the vet's office so I knew if I could get a hold of her she could get a hold of one of the vets. Course while I was calling the other numbers in that 2 minutes, Laura had already called me back and left me a voicemail. I tried Laura again and got her on the phone. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't hold it together very well and told Laura I thought Chase had a broken leg. We hung up and she called the vet. I just petted and talked to Chase and told him help was on the way, he kept trying to move his right leg forward, but it just swung. I thought he was going to go down several times, but he stayed up. Matt had gone and gotten me a wet towel to from the barn that I swatted off flies with as they landed on him and wiped away the blood that was coming from his nose that was tickling his leg or seemed to be.
Laura got there about 10 minutes ahead of the vet. Chase had a "dropped elbow" which meant he either had a fracture somewhere or nerve paralysis. The vet couldn't get much of a pain response out of him, non at all really. After the examination it was decided to give him a couple of days to see if he would regain the use of that leg... so began the journey to the barn. He could move forward by lurching himself with his hind end. It took us over an hour to go 100-150 yards. We used carrots and a bucket of grain which he eagerly followed. We would let him rest every 3-5 steps and get a handful of the grain as a reward. Even though the other horses were out for the night we brought them in to keep Chase company.
Xrays the next morning (Sunday) didn't show any fractures, but he still didn't have much use of that leg. He could throw it forward, but he still wouldn't put any weight on it. The apparent fall in the pasture became more evident now because his eye and right side of his head was now swollen too. By 4pm that afternoon Chase was dunking his head into his water bucket up to his eyes and no longer on his food as he would eat a few bites and then go dunk his head again.
That night he just got worse and worse and more distraught according to Laura:-( At 1AM after talking to the vet they gave him some ACE to calm him and he laid down and relaxed some, occasionally munching hay. When the vet arrived later that morning and they got him up he detected a pocket of (I don't know if it was air or fluid?) on his right side which is an indication of a lung injury, phenothorax? Poor Chase was dealing with more than a leg injury and it was decided then to have him put down.
Chase and Lester were the first horses on the farm. People who were new to the farm always got mixed up and called them Chester and Lace... They were good buddies and pasture mates for a long time. Chase was the horse that could be turned out with anyone, he was a great pasture babysitter as he wasn't too attached to anyone, but got along with everyone. Chase was the horse that anyone could ride, no matter your skill level. He had a trot that would send you to the moon, he was so bouncy, but that suspension made him a lovely mover. Chase was a thoroughbred, but was always mistaken for a warmblood as he was so big barreled and tall. Haltering him could often times be a challenge as he would bite the nose band as you tried pulling it over his head. And once you got a lead rope on him you didn't want to let it go as he would toss his head in his eagerness to go out and often times whack you with it:-)
Chase is the first horse we have lost at the farm:-( it has effected us all. He is buried in the big pasture where he can forever run now.

Where have all the horses gone?

2009-05-07T21:18:00.001-04:00

I had to laugh at Lester last night. Laura had gone ahead and put the horses out in the pastures for the night while I hopped on the Pony Man...He didn't mind, but after our ride and he was fed and alone in the barn he suddenly realized he was "alone". He had that worried horsey look and raised his head higher as we walked down the driveway. Still no horses. Less started to whinny and call out to them on our way up there. It made me think of that song by Paula Cole "Where have all the Cowboy's (horses) Gone". He was so relieved when he saw them-head low, acting all cool though.
Lester's trot work was awesome last night! All 2 figure 8's and 3 mins worth, lol! He's been really tight in the neck and jaw lately and while I don't want to work him up to anything or build him up- there is no point, I do wish for the little work he does to be round and feel good for both of us. It's very strange the variations of stiffness I feel on him. He still initially does not want to turn right, cocks his head left and pulls the reins from me. But when he is in this perfect, round, soft state he can do anything. His level of collection feels incredible. He was so foamy on both sides of the mouth (could have been the 10 sugar cubes I gave him :-p)and wasn't behind the bit last night at all and he didn't - he was in my hands and a bit heavy, but he was still carrying himself. I may have to start calling him the 3 minute miracle :-) So how do we get to this perfect state? It's weird. I ask him to back up. I don't yank or pull on him, I just ask him to halt, and gently ask him with my legs and fingers to back up. And he won't do it. Instead he'll usually curl his neck and do turns on the haunches quite steadily. When this happens I just send him forward into a trot. And he's all there. The very weird part is he's all there or not at all, there is no in between, it's not worth trying to ride it seriously. How can this be though- completely perfect or a complete wreck on 4 legs?

Sleeping Beauty

2009-05-01T09:43:00.000-04:00

Matt's SURPRISE party!

2009-04-27T21:31:00.047-04:00

And I actually was able to pull it off with the help of friends! Matt is leaving to go work for a new company so we decided to throw him a surprise going away party...I'd say though that the majority of the people that came were passed co-workers- they got out earlier :-p

And NO I did not make this cake the friend that helped me put the party together had a friend make it!

The major planning began on Saturday afternoon when I had to make up a story for leaving the house during the day- so unlike me. So I told him I was going to the local tack shop. Instead I met up with a friend from work and we went shopping- in the total opposite direction of the tack shop. I thought for sure my cover was blown when I got a voicemail from Matt telling me he saw me at Publix and he wanted to know what I was doing:-o So I thought fast on my feet and said I had to go to the other tack shop in town and then stop by the store and get some carrots- because I wouldn't be able to do it later when I had the girls (dogs) in the car to go to the farm. Disaster adverted:-) Sunday was the day of the party and I made sure not to ask too far in advance if Matt would go to the farm with me (that's where the party was), if I did then he would know something was up... So I waited midday and asked if he'd come watch me ride because the barn owners would be gone and it's a rule that someone must be on the property in order to ride. So Matt, as always, reluctantly agreed to go:-) I wasn't sure what was the best time for us to show up, I didn't want to go too early or too late. I woke him up from a nap around 3:30 and told him to get ready to go- I had tried earlier in the day to get him to take a shower without him becoming too suspicious, but that was a no-go. It usually takes him 10-15 minutes to wake up from a nap and it usually takes sending Limo in to get him up. But of course not this time. He was up and ready to go so I had to delay a little here and there which made him pretty mad. Finally I say we can go and load the dogs in the car and we are all in the car about to leave and I realized that I forgot my veggie burgers! I would have nothing to eat at the party...so I have to run back in the house with the keys, leaving Matt and the dogs in the car in the heat:-p I couldn't very well just bring out my veggies burgers so I put them in two plastic bags and shoved a bag of apples in there also. I thought for sure I was going to get the third degree of what was so important and what was in the bag, but to my relief he didn't even ask:-) I even had to wear my breeches so as to make him think I was riding one of the horses.

Because I had made him and the dogs wait in the hot car he wasn't very happy with me, he even got grumpy lol. So I text my friend that I was on the way with a grumpy Matt. Last time I asked him to accompany me to the farm for the reason of no one being there while I rode, it turned out I was wrong and there were several people there. So when we pulled into the gate and down the driveway and he saw cars he got pretty mad and said "see I told you people would be here, I'm just dropping you off!" As we got closer and he recognized the people he turned red and told me I was stupid:-) I was the only one that really got to see his reaction, but he was definitely surprised! And I had pulled it off with all my web of lies:-) At this point he became ungrumpy.

The girls got to stay out for the whole party too and they were both very well behaved.

Lester with a party goer...

Limo guarding the Margarita bucket...not really:-)

The guys played volleyball

The girls watched and drank:-)

even Limo wanted to play...

Peanut followed me wherever I went

Limo got some "special" attention

Belk Charity Sale

2009-04-21T21:21:00.024-04:00

Welcome to Belk Limo says.
Southeastern Greyhound Adoption is participating in the Charity Sale at Belk through May 2nd...Tickets are only $5 and entitle you to $5 off your purchase on May 2nd and also get you in a raffle on May 2nd to win a $1,000 dollar shopping spree at Belk!

So my friend Dawn has been selling these tickets for over a week now and me and the dogs met her up at Belk tonight with her daughter Savannah, the sale guru. I know we were trying to raise donations for the greyhounds, but Limo had to tag along because I felt guilty leaving her at home. She growled a few times at Tom Haygen the other GH, but for the most part she was good and was a good lure showing off her odd self. Course I brought the camera so I could take pics of dogs in a department store. This outing really made me realize how far both Limo and Peanut have come. Limo wasn't afraid of the children wanting to pet her nor any of the odd set ups, she just took it all in and thought everyone was there for her. I really thought Peanut was going to be a huge whiner about the whole thing and cry for each person's visit, but she was quiet the whole time. Savannah was the big seller of the night and did all the "leg" work. She took Peanut all around the store and solicited ticket sales while Dawn and I kicked back at the table and chatted:-) we both laughed and agreed that we aren't "people people"that can just talk to strangers easily. As we sat at the table a mom and 2 kids came in and Dawn and I smiled and said Hi, but there wasn't anymore contact- she didn't really seem interested and we didn't press it... well not 5 minutes later I look over and see Savannah and Peanut standing with the same people and mom writing out a check:-) Damn that girl can sell, LOL.

Peanut was the embarrassment of the night though:-x During her fourth lap around the store she pooped! Bad dog! And we had just taken them out to poppy not 15 minutes or so before...I was standing up front with Tom and Limo and Savannah came running up to me and told me what she'd done. We swapped dogs and she disappeared to go tell her mom. Then a sales lady came up to me and told me if I knew that one of the dogs had had an accident and I said yes that it was being taken care of...she was not happy to say the least and not a dog person! So I asked another sales lady for a "baggy" and went to look for the poop. I found some remnants by another sales lady -she must of been the look out person...Dawn had already cleaned up most of it, but had gone back to the bathroom for more towels. I said I was soooooooooooo sorry my dog did that and she said "Oh, nothin I haven't seen before", LOL, I said yes, but I'm sure you haven't seen it in the store! She was nice about it, the other lady was not.

I think Limo should be the next Clinque model, don't ya think?

Girls Gone Wild

2009-04-15T15:15:00.003-04:00

Ha, I won't say the next obvious line, don't worry :-) Be careful what you ask for Limo...

I had to laugh at Nut the other day because I was preparing horsie food and I knocked off one of the buckets from the counter top, spoon and all - BAM! Right in front of Nut, she just stood there, didn't flinch and checked to see if there was anything good to lick... Limo of course was OUT OF THERE and she wasn't even near it:-)

How to exercise a greyhound part II

2009-04-03T11:25:00.010-04:00

The pic and the videos were taken about 2 weeks ago...my blogging is never up to date is it:-) oh well.
Two posts ago I told you about the instructor I've known for many many years and that I recently took a lesson with her... She's got a great eye for how the horse travels and even though I can't take lessons on Lester or take him to her place (her riding ring is sand and that footing is too deep and challenging for Less) so I asked her to stop by the farm and watch us go and tell me what she "sees". Kinda like a mounted lameness examination. Less tripped/stumbled about 6 times (I was happy he did so too because THATS what I wanted her to see, that and his head bobbing to the right). I can't ever feel which leg it was and I knew she'd be able to tell me. I thought for sure she was going to tell me he tripped on the right hind every time, but nope, whether he's tracking left or right it's always the inside hind that is "lost". She said his stiffness comes from high up like in the stifle area which to me backs up the back injury/problem theory. I was so happy that she took the time to stop by and watch us go, she gave me hope that I can still get on him and do stuff:-) We both agree not to over do it or make him do lateral or a ton of collected work, but she didn't see a problem with me asking him to come and stay round- it's a better way to travel for all, lol. Strangely he didn't head bob for her to the right, makes me wonder that I rode him differently when she was there... because the video of us going to the right 2 days later clearly shows him bobbing a bit.
So about the video, Peanut was a cling-on that day! She was all up in Lester's space! The little hop he does at her, I swear felt like a buck, lol, but as you'll see it was nada. He also never lost his hindend during the videos or that entire ride...

Be sure to click on the HQ, it's much better viewing even though it takes a bit longer to load.

And Lester tracking to the right:

It has been raining on and off for a month now- mostly on- straight up down pours for days! I was able to ride Basonge a couple of times, but I couldn't remember the last time I'd been on Lester since the videos so Wednesday was Lester's day... everything was so damp and it was a bit cool and cloudy. During our exercise jog (I always jog him out first before I get on-I learned that the hard way) he seemed a bit "uppity', but he was a very GOOD boy. No spooking, balking or major fussing. We had some very nice round and soft moments:-)
Having been around another horse lately tacking up and mounting, it just makes me love my pony even more! Less ground ties, but if I do tie him he just stands there and never moves- I can even go out of sight and he just chills (course he knows he gets a treat when I get back:-P)you know how some horses have to go from side to side and just are little busy bodies? I also love that Less never poops in the barn-NEVER! He does after a ride sometimes in the washrack, but it's not a habit. Basonge gives me dirty looks now when I brush or tack him up, his little ears go a little flat and his little lips wrinkle.... Less has never made an ugly look for being tacked up-NEVER! and I guess I forget how rare that is to not have a horse wag their head, clinched their teeth, flatten their ears or just do something to show their disgust in being girthed!

(I'm sorry for being a bad blogger commenter lately:-( I will catch up soon, hope everyone is doing well!)

Happy Sweet 18 Lester!

2009-03-28T21:21:00.004-04:00

Less turned 18 today and I let him celebrate it with a Reese's Peanut Butter cup, they are his very favorite and he's earned it!

When it rains it pours...

2009-03-26T21:38:00.015-04:00

Do you ever have a blog post in mind for days, weeks even months and just never get the time to get it down? Even though you've posted other things in the meantime?! Well this is one of those posts...

When it rains, it pours. Even though it's rainy for the next couple of days I'm not just talking about the weather:-) Last month I emailed an old instructor of mine, Gigi of Touch n' Go farm (she has a great website and stories of all the meaningful horses in her life) and asked her if she had anyone I could come take a lesson on, that I just didn't have anyone to ride. Like most dressage training barns she has no lesson horses, but she said I could come ride her daughter's pony and take a lesson on her. So I did this about a month ago! My sister Jen and I used to take lessons all the time with Gigi. Every Thursday she and I would trailer our horses (Lester and Kate) nearly 2 hours away for one. The ironic thing is that when I moved Lester down to Newnan-only about 20 minutes from Gigi's is when I stopped taking lessons:-( Backwards huh? But I didn't have a trailer, so, so close yet so far syndrome. I did take Less over to her place for a week of training back in 2005. It started out like a marriage counseling session because I had taken him there for her to help me ride through his spooking, but of course once we got there he didn't spook at a thing so we got to do something actual training... I must really ride differently in front of an instructor verses on my own:-/

Anyway while Gigi's daughter, Cassidy, was helping me get her horse Hanna ready to ride, I was greeted by their flock of dogs and I said "I remember this black dog that would come up and spit a rock out at my feet". Cassidy pointed down and said that would be "Dasiy", I couldn't believe it that was over 13 years ago that I had first met that dog! They even still had their boy goat named Eddie, again I first met him over 13 years ago. I just think it's so cool they were still around... so I took a lesson and both Gigi and Hanna worked my butt off! OMG my face was so red and my muscles ached so bad. Miss Hanna takes a LOT of leg, but she's a cute little horse that knows her stuff so it was a good lesson. I plan to take some more lessons on her if "life" would ever work out and let me, but between the rain, work and our schedules it just hasn't worked out...........but in the same weekend a boarder at our barn asked if I would start riding her horse, Basonge...so I've been riding pretty regularly lately:-) He's green, but a solid little guy that's pretty laid back. Like Hanna, I felt like I had to beat him with my legs at first just to get him to go, but he's respecting my legs much better lately and I haven't even been wearing spurs...

I hope to take him to Gigi's for some lessons soon, just need to talk to the owner.

So meet Basonge...he's a 6 year old, Arabian. I do feel a little top heavy on him though:-)

Like a box of chocolates...

2009-03-19T21:20:00.000-04:00

I never know what I'm going to get when I ride Lester. Sometimes he's like a truffle - he's so soft and light in my hands and chewy on the bit. And then other times he's like that "looks great on the outside", but is like that unexpected tart/ bitter orange crap that makes you wish you never took a bite of! I'd say most days he's like one of those chocolates that has a nougat in it, still good, but you were hoping for a gooey center:-)

Have I said yet how much I love this boy's canter?! He has moments of self carriage and roundness that it's hard for me to believe he has any problems sometimes. It's like OMG "THIS" is my horse. The other night I was trotting him and he just decided to strut and do a lengthening! And if was effortless for him. Had a nice canter too. Course this is all going left:-) I've had him on MSM for about a week now. I was in Kroger and saw a HUGE bottle of MSM pills and bought it for him- so I got to crush 190 pills, I like to do things the hard way, lol. I figured if I at least got him on it that I would remember to order the powder kind. Course I still haven't done that and the girls are running out of dog food too....

Thank you all for the kind words regarding Moose. She was indeed a once in a lifetime horse and very special. She was a dream come true and she taught me so much. I have visited her through several animal communicators over the years and they all pick up on the same thing. She is an old soul that was like a mother figure to me. Once when I was at a job interview and was pretty nervous not thinking I was qualified, Moose popped into my head and gave me strength to get through it...a few months later when I spoke to an AC she said "Moose sends inspiring messages to you -To go for it!" all the time:-)

Chocolate Moose

2009-03-17T09:07:00.004-04:00

Today's post is to remember and honor my first horse...Moose. I'll link you back to another post that tells her story in the end. She would have been 31 today...not a day goes by that I don't think of her. She was my everything- from babysitter to best friend.

This BUD's for Limo

2009-03-10T08:27:00.004-04:00

I don't for see any Beer commercials in Limo's future. A Spud Mckenzie she is not!

Where the green grass grows

2009-03-04T21:09:00.012-05:00

All of the pastures lack good grass this time of year, but there are several non-pasture areas at the farm that still have lovely grass and even some clover. Lester would prefer to stay in his stall and be fed hay by the flake full then be out in a barren pasture during the winter months... He is ALWAYS ready to come in- after a few hours of being put out he is standing at the gate and hollering and chasing any car down the fence line for someone to come get him. Can you say lazy and pitiful? So I always try to give Less some good grass grazing before putting him up for the night. He has always been pretty well behaved about being left in an area to graze with or without his leadrope on while I retrieve the other horses or do other horsey tasks. The only times he has been bad and ran off to a place I didn't want him is if I allowed his buddy Polo to graze with him- Polo can be the biggest sh*t sometimes! Grrrr

I love how the girls will hang out and chill while he grazes. Hah even when they aren't chill and they are playing and whizzing by he couldn't care less, there is grass before him.

"I've got my eye on you"

So get this. I rode PonyManFuzzyLegs Lester yesterday and he felt pretty goodish:-) He wasn't tripping over his feet like he did last Thursday and even had moments of roundness and self carriage- I wasn't asking for it, it's just something he does from time to time and I love it! We did a little bit of trotting because I wanted to practice my sitting trot a bit- my substitute for an Ab roller or other Abs machine:-) So needless to say I was happy with Pony and even though we almost stepped on Miss Pnut'so it was a good ride. And you know what occurred to me and wondering how could last Thursday's ride be SO different from yesterdays? Well last Friday, the day after my ride it POURED and rained all freak'n day where as there is no rain in the forecast for a while here... So I know rain affects people with arthritis and other ailments so I'm thinking it affects Lester too.

Peanut's First Snow

2009-03-02T14:03:00.031-05:00

What's that white stuff?

Limo trys to make a snow angel...

Driveway of the farm...

The Tack Room Troll

2009-02-27T07:26:00.004-05:00

I had to put the cones up to keep him from coming all the way into the tack room :-) This is the face I get the WHOLE time we are tacking up.

I hopped on him yesterday hopping he would feel pretty good since I hadn't been on him in almost a month, but he didn't. He was VERY trippy in the hindend just at the walk. We did do a little trotting on a straight away and did OK. He's learned pretty much though that it's rare that I ask him for a turn now so he just stops when he wants to. Fine by me, at least he's cute.

I'm baaack

2009-02-24T21:58:00.013-05:00

Grrrrr... I had a post and lost it... anyway you guys didn't even know I was gone didja? My mom and I went road tripp'n to Dallas, Texas to visit family. I drove there with her Thurs/Fri and flew back on Monday at 5:45AM and then went to work! It was a quick, but fun trip. I kicked my brother's butt in the Bowling game on Wii and it was my grandfather's 94th birthday on Sunday, but I was bad and didn't take any pics except these couple of where we used to live. My mom took some pics with her camera, but she's still in Texas and hasn't sent me any yet.

I remember this house being HUGE with 4 tiers of stairs each with 10 or more steps that lead up to the porch! LOL Funny how we see things when we are kids. I took a pic of the house below also because this is where I tried to adopt out one of my baby dolls when I was 4 years old. One day I went 3-4 houses down and put my baby doll on their porch, rang the door bell and went in hid in the bushes. I did this about 3 times until a teenage couple (that probably had been making out) caught me and meanly asked "Is this your baby doll"? I grabbed my dollie and ran home:-( Not sure why I was trying to give her away...oh well.
So give me a few days to get caught up on all you blogs!

Leaping Limos

2009-02-17T20:59:00.000-05:00

Well, thankfully for everyone, there is just one Limo...

2009-02-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

Peanut the beautiful

2009-02-12T11:03:00.020-05:00

I have to chuckle when you all say how beautiful Peanut it is ...

I'll be the first to admit I thought Peanut was a bit homely and ugly when I first saw her. She was fat, dingy and was really after Limo at first. I really thought to myself, "She's going to be hard to adopt". And then we figured out that she was 5 and not 3 which really made me think that...- there was a mix up at the kennel with her and another brindle female, Wiki Onetime. One look at "Wiki" and we knew she wasn't 3. So my sister Jen did some ear tattoo investigations (all greyhounds have tattoos in each ear) and paper digging and figured out who she was. It was kinda sad too because the person who thought she had "Peanut" had chosen her because of her breeding. Her greyhound that she had just lost had the same grandfather as Peanut. I know that's not saying much, cuz like in the horse racing world the good studs are the ones that sire so many! But it does sometimes feel like fate or a special connection when they are related in some way.

I encourage both you KK and oregonsunshine to adopt a greyhound! It's very rewarding just like taking in an OTTB and it's fun to have a dog with a past. I meant to have this link, Go Peanut Go, attached in the last post. She ran 108 races, won 38 and came in 2nd in 14. She was the best runner of her litter.

She is pretty...

darn cute...

Go Peanut Go

2009-02-11T20:00:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I got some good shots of The Nut running. Go Peanut Go was her racing name... my sis was disappointed that I kept the name Peanut, she thought she needed a car name like Limo, but Peanut and especially just calling her "Nut" suits her. It's not always easy, usually she's either too far away or too close... you can click on each pic and enlarge to see her rippling muscles:-) I've been around greyhounds now for over 15 years and I'm still amazed how buff they are and stay even in their retirement. I'm so lucky I can take the girls to the farm with me like I do.

Expectations

2009-02-10T15:22:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for viewing the previous video and leaving your comments...first video and pics in six months of us riding. He hasn't changed or improved a bit. But I didn't think he would. The only thing different now in our riding is my low expectation. There was a time I thought I could "work it out of him", what ever "it" was. I thought he just needed to strengthen his hindend and do long and low work outs to loosen up his stiff muscles. I started over with him more times than I can count and worked on building him up slowly. I still wonder how far we could have gone in dressage if it hadn't been for "it". He did so well in some areas in spite of "it" and could even achieve some 2nd level dressage movements quite easily. Not too shabby for a very one-sided horse with an obvious problem somewhere. He still prefers to turn and hold his head left. Most of the time when I ask him to turn right with an open and soft hand I'm met with a grab and heavy pull to the left. That's fine. We can go left.

I wonder what he feels? I know sometimes when I throw my back out or my neck gets a kink in it it's not always a "painful" feeling, but a "I can't move that way" feeling.

Like I said before, I LOVE our tacking up time together, when he's not taking off out of the barn to find some grass he can be really sweet and silly.
Kacy, I don't know what that "flub" in his hindend was. He does it often though in a walk, trot or canter and whether he's undersaddle or not. It's like his hindend just gets lost. I wouldn't worry about Wa though, it might just be laziness on her part;-) -thanks for the comment on my leg, I like to think I still do something right!

Lisa, Lester has always been OK with animals underfoot, I'll blog about our past goats soon! All your goats make me miss them.

How to exercise a greyhound

2009-02-04T19:43:00.000-05:00

Spooky would do the exact same thing...eventually she'd realize we were just going in circles so she wouldn't follow so intently. It's still new to Peanut though.

I cantered on Lester the other day, I LOVE his canter. He felt so good that day and I just asked. He's always had such easy transitions too. I got on him again the next day and he didn't feel nearly as good. He stiffened and seemed anxious. So we just walked for 10 mins and I hopped off. No need to ever push too much, we just have to take it day to day. It's not even just the riding him, I love spending the tacking up time with him. He's so goofy and turns his head in the tackroom and sticks his tongue out constantly at me.

I miss you Spooky

2009-02-01T21:24:00.004-05:00

Beach Trip 200?

2009-01-24T09:23:00.000-05:00

This is the one and only time I've ridden Lester on the beach and I seriously can't think of what year it was...The American Red Cross sponsored this beach ride and for $75 with an ugly blue hat you could ride on the beach...the sad part is that none of us that went on this trip together are even friends anymore. Not because of this trip, just for other reasons.

Tanya from South Carolina brought her trailer down the weekend before the trip so that she could trailer Lester and I to a Field Trial. Lester and I played the judges just like at an England coursing event. My job was to hold up a colored flag representing which dog had won that course. I wasn't the real judge and the winners were called into me by waki talki. Lester did wonderful at this as he usually loves big crowds, he thinks it's all about him. Tanya decided to leave the trailer here in Georgia instead of taking it back with her to SC.

I get to the farm on the Thursday before our trip and Bill the farm hand (this guy was a complete nightmare of a worker, but that's a different story) informs me that Porsia, his Rottie has chewed up the trailer light adapter wires. He says that he noticed it the day before, but didn't mention it because he didn't know when we were needing the trailer. In other words he just didn't care. Tanya and Todd arrive and they realize that what Bill has half ass fixed isn't going to work so before we head to SC we'll have to stop at an Autozone store to get the correct parts. So we load Less up and hit the road, with no looking back...

On the way to the Autozone I realize that I cannot find Lester's Coggins paper- you know the little yellow paper which is like the MOST IMPORTANT paper you can have on a horse and must be with you at all times when traveling. So I turn to Tanya and say "you're going to kill me:-(" and I told her what I didn't have. She was good about not killing me then in there, it might have been becauseI thought me not having Less' coggins paper was a short lived. Because shortly after I told her I went rummaging through my purse and was so excited when I found "that yellow toned paper", but turns out it was an old vet bill:-(. So then Tanya was back to wanting to kill me and I really couldn't blame her. We get to the Autozone and Todd goes in to buy the necessary parts- turns out they didn't have exactly what we needed so he had to make due with what they had. He was able to get it to work and got the trailer lights turned on! "Yeah- we're all set"!! (except for the coggins paper). So we hit the road again, well try to anyways. Tanya pulls out of the parking lot and has her foot to the floor and the truck and trailer are barely moving. Todd jumps out to check on it and notices that Tanya has drug the trailer about 50 ft because the trailer brakes locked down when the trailer lights were turned on.

Tanya and I go into the shop to get a flashlight and wire cutters. Fortunately there were some really helpful guys behind the counter - NOT. Todd even asked one of the guys working there if he had any other speed than "dead"! Turns out, he didn't. So with no register help what so ever, Tanya and I tear into the packages so I can take the tools out to the truck and let Todd get to work on the trailer. Tanya stayed inside to pay for it. Then Todd began his work on "disarming the bomb" so to speak- we had our fingers crossed that he would cut the correct wire and still enable the trailer lights to work!! Phew, with a snip of a few wires we were good to go. Though we had no turn signals the entire trip, at least the trailer moved now and the brake lights worked!! THANK GOD FOR TODD!!!! Had he not been with us with all this (he almost didn't come with Tanya to pick me up), we NEVER would have made it. Again, onto SC we go, well not yet. Remember, we still have to backtrack back to the farm and find the coggins for Lester. We didn't have a safe place to turn around so I arranged for Debbie (John the barn owner's late wife) to pick me up at the front gait and drive me to the house. I tear apart my car and can't find the coggins anywhere!! But I got the brilliant idea to take Chase's coggins with us, so that we would have the correct papers on at least the same color horse. The only thing different was the face markings and believe me, we thought of everything as to how to prove Lester as being Chase......Once again we are off. We pick up Karyn shortly after, about this time Lester has been in the trailer for over 2 hours and we aren't even out of Georgia yet. He was a trooper though and never got fussy.
During the road trip we are discussing ways to get Lester in the beach ride without having his own coggins. We actually weren't too worried about it because we still didn't know the whole procedure of the horse and coggins check. We didn't know how thorough it would be. Though we were 4 hours behind schedule, we were still in good spirits. We pulled into the driveway of Tanya's barn about 1am, put Lester to bed and then headed back to her house for a good 3-5 hours sleep. Friday morning we head over to the barn where the farrier is there waiting to put new shoes on Jeebs and Lester. Yeah, did I mention Lester threw a shoe the day before the trip? Shoes back on, horses loaded as well as tack, off to Myrtle Beach we head. On the way there I started reading more material about the ride and the coggins test and began getting more worried about the whole switch-a-roo Coggins thing. At one time we even had the idea of buying some white shoe polish to make Lester's marking even more similar, but decided against it. Friday afternoon we finally arrive in M-beach, I know Tanya was ready to kill me if she heard me gasp one more time while she was driving! For the record she and Todd both did a terrific job driving the trailers .....After we settled the horses in at the barn about 10 minutes from the beach we were back to our "criminal" ways and scoped out the coggins inspection ground. We wanted to stake out the joint and pick the best time to plan our attack, or arrival, which ever you prefer,for the following morning. So after this we are all a little bit more settled on how we are going to pull this off. We got to the beach house ready to settle us humans in and take showers, but are locked out! We called the lock smith and he said he'd be a couple of hours, so we decide to go on to dinner....laughing all the way and wondering what could possibly happen next. Over the course of dinner Tanya was facing a huge dilemma, "Should I wear blue or black jeans tomorrow"? I realize that this is a "have to be there moment", but Karyn then said "OMG, that is the least of our problems!!" it was all in fun though and we all got a huge laugh out of it. On the way home from the dinner Kayrn spotted some shaving cream and sprayed it all over Todd's ear- it was a definite "Something About Marry" moment! We laughed so hard that we all complained of chest pains....
Back at the beach house, once the lock smith lets us in, we get ready for bed. Over dinner we discussed ways of getting Lester past inspections and our last and final plan was to arrive there in the AM while it was still dark so they wouldn't be able to see him as well. Saturday morning came fast and we load Lester in the stock trailer first and cut out the trailer lights so that there would be no attention drawn to his face and that he in fact was am imposter! At this point I'm so nervous I think I'm going to puke, Tanya and I were both pretty nervous and taking deep breathes as we pulled up to the inspection line. Tanya hands the man the notebook and luckily it looked to confusing and or buckly to even want to deal with, so as it turned out, the man NEVER SAW the coggins papers themselves. He asked Tanya to do him a favor and call out all the info to him. As Tanya was calling the info out, Karyn came up to my window and brought makeup to distract me and get my mind off of it:-) Then the man said, OK, now let me go and check and make sure you brought the right horses! but In fact all that was written down about Lester was his color- and from that he matched their form perfectly! HOME FREE! all the while, Todd was back smoozing the other inspector and said "What jackass would actually try and fake a coggins"? and she told him that they had caught a lot the night before!

We drive in and find a good spot close to home base. I have NEVER seen so many stupid hillbillies in my life and neither had Lester!!! We were both pretty worried on the same level at them- never knew what they would do next. There were about 800 horse and riders there and all but a few of them were CRAZY! Many had bells and harnesses jingle jangling all over the place. I really wanted to be last in the last group heading over, but some how we just all kinda got pushed into one of the early groups. We traveled across the hwy with police escorts in about a pack of 100 or more horses. Lester and I were in front of Tanya, Todd and Karyn. Then some kid's horse got spooked and dumped him and took off bucking into the road. A driver got out and got the horse and Lester didn't want anything to do with it, so we just kept heading for the beach. When we got out there it was about 9am and the beach was BEAUTIFUL and so was the weather! Lester was really good heading out and we even were able to do some working trot and canter which all the on lookers liked! If only I had pics of that. All the horses were great, but the worst one of all was Storm, the horse that Karyn was riding- the person with the least experience. but she did good, and even stayed on when he decided to be a bucking bronco at one point. We rode out on the beach for about 3 hours when we decided to turn home. We got maybe a mile home before I decided to get off Lester and hoof it back with him. By this time it was noon and many of the locals, tourists and beach goers had come out to play. I looked down the beach and only saw people, towels, chairs, umbrellas and that's all Lester saw too. He was so scared of the little children playing and digging their sand castles because they were crouched down and then would just pop up unexpectedly. By this time Lester wanted to do anything but listen to me, he was spooking at everything, jumping around, going backwards, spinning, ect- and doing what I call the lippazan leap.- He wants to go back wards or jig in one place so I ask him to go forward and he decides to just leap forward instead of walk. I decided that there were too many beach goers to consider and it would be best to be off of him and that I had more control... looking back now and what has become of his back, hindend and lameness I would bet that after 3 hours of me on his back in the deep sand really took a toll on him....at the time I was mad at him so I made him walk in the ocean with me because it was easier footing. Sometimes we were up to our chests in the water. My paddock boots and chaps and well everything were just soaked! Looking back I wish I gotten back on him in the water and done a little swimming, but maybe in another life....This one lady asked why I wasn't on my horse and I should I have told her because I didn't want to run over stupid people like you!!! The people on the beach were so STUPID and didn't even act like we were there- I'm not saying I had the right away, but they could at least stay away when my horse wants to jump on them! People were just walking right up to us asking to pet the horses and Lester wasn't about to stand for pats, he was too far "gone" by then.

Anyway we get back exhausted, sore and tired, but we all had a really good ride. The one and only time I've seen Lester pull back was when he was tied to the trailer and the lead rope got around his head and he was pulling back and leaping forward, but I was able to untie him without him getting hurt....
Sunday AM we park closer to the beach as to avoid the walk across the street. We parked at a deserted White Water park- I think Lester has now seen everything! This ride was quieter and shorter. Lester was stiff and a bit sore, so we only walked. I tried to get him to go into the waves with me on him, but he wouldn't and I didn't press the issue. So we all survived another beach ride so we head home for the trailer. As we are walking, I'm not sure who noticed it first, but we all look to our right and see a bomber jet flying straight for us, only about 50 ft above our heads! We all brace and get ready for the worst! All the horses did pretty well with it. Lester danced around in the spot where we stood and he was a good boy considering, because I knew he was terrified. I hate the sound of those things and I KNOW where it's coming from, he doesn't. So we all said Phew and caught our breath just in time to hear "Oh shit, here comes another one!" So we all brace again. Karyn jumped off Storm who at that point reared up and she was able to contain him, I jumped off Less as the jet passed and he went backwards, not knowing where to run, but I was able to hang on to him.

Monday AM we head home. We stayed together with the 2 trailers until we reached Columbia SC, at this point we put Dancer on the other trailer and sent him home with Todd. Poor Tanya still had Kayrn and Lester and I to take home. Not long after we cross the GA state line, we see flashing lights and get pulled over. We were all thinking it was for not having turn signals. Turns out that the Georgia dept. of Agriculture was pulling us over to check Lester's coggins and health certificate! Well we didn't have a health certificate. but we had "his" coggins so we showed him that. He took the paper back to his car and we all looked at each other and thought not in a million years would this ever happen and here it happens on this trip! Karyn said that the coggin papers fraud was still haunting us. Thank god he didn't check the paper to Lester, he just took down the info. Even though I was taking Lester to Myrtle Beach that was in South Carolina it didn't even occur to me that I was taking him "out of the state".

Look Ma, no legs

2009-01-22T18:45:00.005-05:00

Some how I deleted my original post about Lim's legs when I was trying to tag/ label it:-( Sorry I deleted everyone's comments too, stupid blogger! So here it is again! It always cracks me up when I see her laying like this. I call this her "turtle" mode. She's a great dog to sleep with too because she folds up into just a torso.

I'll also take this time to brag on Kroger grocery store for those of you in the Southeast. I was in there the other day and was amazed and happy to find made in/from USA rawhide. They also had a huge selection on treats and some organic dog food. I bought 2 cans of Brandon Farms canned food to put into the girl's Kongs, they love them!

Like Father Like Son

2009-01-19T19:06:00.000-05:00

This is Lester's daddy, Non-Wet. I'm told his barn name was Sean. I searched through his pedigree to figure out how one comes up with a registered name as "Non-Wet" and can find no reason. It's just weird. So from there if you click on "Progeny" you will find the names of his offspring. Lester is "Little Bit Wet" and has a half sister named "Slightly Slippery". His other TB half siblings are Irish Muffin and The Dancing Machine and didn't get a name like dad's.
On a whim one day about 7 years ago I wrote on a Ohio Horsey forum (Lester was born and raised in OH)asking about the farm where Non-Wet resided and if anyone new the Harpers who had bred my Lester. Well I got an email from a girl named Christi saying she knew the Harpers and had pictures of Non-Wet, AKA Sean. She also told me she had a QH mare that was bred to him at the time and was waiting it's arrival. It turned out to be a filly and she named her White House Lady AKA Hillary. It was fun seeing a picture of Lester's daddy and a half sibling, he defiantly got his daddy's eyes. According to Christi he also got his dad's personality too because she said Sean was a very sweet, laid back stud.

The Internet is great isn't it? We can track down so much information these days. Three years ago I was able to track down Lester's one and only Win Photo from his racing days. The photographer still had a copy of it even though it was 11 years old. So for $18 I was able to get a real piece of history on Lester! :-)

Anger Management

2009-01-15T19:54:00.005-05:00

Limo is in need for some serious anger management. She can't stand it when I pull up next to the pasture and Lester comes up. This is the same thing we have to deal with at home when Peanut or any other dog comes up to us while we sit on the couch or bed. Oh and she does it when another dog comes up to her too. She growls, licks nervously and shakes uncontrollably. Sometimes the whites of her eyes go red too.

We've tried our best to "rehabilitate" her, but she seriously goes into that "Red Zone" dog that the Dog Whisperer talks about. We found that forcing her to be submissive and holding her down till she gives up doesn't work at all. It makes it worse. Kicking her out of the room and putting her in a time out works the best.

13 Years

2009-01-11T20:15:00.005-05:00

I bought Lester 13 years ago today. Last year I posted about that day so I'll just direct you back there... back in time.

January 11, 1996

Sometimes it's hard to believe that I have had a horse since I was 11 years old. That's over half of my life! Before Lester I had a mare named Chocolate Moose for 6 years that I rode hunter/jumper with. She was literally a dream come true. Then I bought a little QH mare and named her Button and sold her 8 months later for a little profit. With that money I bought Lester.

I got on him yesterday. He was a good boy, we even trotted a little. I did a posting trot for the first time in 6 months.

Lester the Grouch

2009-01-04T18:46:00.006-05:00

Picturesque huh?
It's didn't last. We tried turning Frosty, the lone mare on the property, out with Lester and Polo yesterday morning. Lester kept herding Polo away from her and wouldn't let them sniff each other, but other than that it seemed like it really might work out. Since I've owned Lester, 13 years this month, he's never been out with a mare. The horses spotted the humans walking down the driveway and trotted over to check things out, from there it just turned ugly. Lester and Polo both turned on Frosty and began chasing her and biting her when ever they could reach. The rain soaked ground made for horrible footing and they were all slipping and sliding. It was quite clear they weren't going to stop until someone got seriously hurt so I retrieved my wild gelding and put him and Polo in a separate pasture. So much for that plan.

Lester is top man in the herd rankings and makes sure everyone knows it. He is such a bully:-( I do appreciate the fact that he doesn't reach out and bite someone walking by his stall, but he can be down right mean in the pasture. He guards the gate and chases away anyone that comes too close.

He's been really grouchy and grumpy even more lately, but I have too so maybe I'm rubbing off on him. He seems to hate being turned out lately, in no time he's pacing the fence line and calling to any and everyone to be brought in. I guess he knows there is a full bag of hay waiting for him in his stall. Lazy boy, again I'm probably rubbing off on him.

Who else watches the Dog Whisperer?

2008-12-30T21:27:00.000-05:00

Make sure your sound is on:-)

Poly

2008-12-28T20:02:00.005-05:00

Poly and her brother were found by a friend of my sister's about 4 years ago (she's 4 right?)- well I might be off on the years, but I know it's been more than 2. They were found living behind a Cracker Barrel dumpster. I think it took two attempts before they were able to catch them because they were both so frightened. The friend rehabbed both pups and spread the word of needing to find a home for the brown one, as they decided to keep the black pup. My sis thought of my parents when she heard the news.

They named her Poly and my mom thought she finally had her a lap dog. But as previous pics showed, Poly liked to sit at my dad's feet on his reclining chair. She also grew a bit more than expected and wasn't quite a lap dog after all. My mom taught her all sorts of tricks though, you name it and she can probably do it! She's a very smart dog.

So any guess before I reveal her identity?

She came out as Level 2 with both Bulldog and Beagle and level 3 or 4 (I forget which) Husky.

Not sure about those results. Beagle I can kind of see, but the others not at all. I'm surprised she didn't come out part cat or fox because she looks like a fox and little tiny cat feet:-)

Stay tuned for Bailey's story and future DNA results!

Matt must really...

2008-12-25T20:07:00.022-05:00

love me or he was just really sick of me using his laptop all the time:-) He got me a one for Christmas :-o It's a Dell Inspiron with Windows Vista and the keyboard is so nice I swear I've typed less typos! The best part is I can download photos right off the smart card and don't have to use a stupid camera adapter- I lost the cord anyways! Thank you Matt- I love it!-when you read this....I also got an 8'inch digital frame at which my family joked that I will only put pics of me on it:-) Ha, they're half right, it will be me and the animals....

after I opened the laptop my family was like "well, damn, everything else under the tree is crap", lol. It wasn't though, we all had a fantastic Christmas. We spent Christmas eve over at my parents' house with the dogs and I'm happy to report that Peanut did very well. Last time we stayed she cried all night and wouldn't settle, much like the first few days we had her. She slept in the middle of all the festivities just like any other good greyhound would.

Limo got me back shortly after this pic was taken...I left the hat on the table while we went to Matt's parents' house and she ate it. Luckly the Santa hat was safely put away so it's still intact.

My Mom made Peanut a beautiful new doggie coat, it's fleece and snuggly!

The little brown dog is Poly, my parents' mixed breed...I got them the DNA test for Christmas (results are in), anyone want to take a gander at what she is? They listed 3 breeds and you'll never believe what they are. I'll save the results for another post!

This is my mom and her dog, Bailey, I got the DNA kit for her too as she's mixed also, but she's a fraidy cat and we decided that my mom doing the swab in her mouth would be the least detrimental to her progress trusting and liking humans:-) I'll have to post her story when her her DNA results arrive...it's a cool one I think.

Here is Poly in her favorite spot with my dad.

These were the only couple of "human" pics I took, lol, of course they had to contain their dogs in them. My mom had her camera too so she got some human shots;-) I don't say it enough, but I have the best family ever, including Matt of course even though we aren't married yet :-)

...Limo is spreading Christmas Joy to my BIL, Stephen.

I hope you all had as Wonderful a Christmas as I did!

I'm off to clean stalls now in 60 degree weather, OK, I know, that was mean!

A Grey in a manger...

2008-12-21T21:35:00.019-05:00

Well, in a stall I mean. Both girls took shelter from the wind Sunday morning while we cleaned stalls. It's gotten cold again, the high today is only 36! That is COLD for us. I bought the girls hats for Christmas just haven't put them on and taken pics yet, guess I better do it! The wind kept blowing Lester's off yesterday so I was lucky to get a good shot of him in it.

They stayed warm other ways too... Peanut may be a lab in a greyhound's body, but Limo is a midget mutant of one....

O' the weather outside is frightful...

2008-12-16T21:17:00.009-05:00

The horse is more festive than the house as you can see. We've been bad this year, we don't even have a Christmas tree:-x But we spend the Holidays at the parents' houses so I don't really see a need for a tree. Last week it was in the high 60's and even hit 70 degrees:-o But today it went down into the 40's and is steadily going down into the teens. I hope it's not too much of a shock to the ponies. We turned their night feed into warm mashes and added some electrolytes. And of course blanketed them. After dinner I gave Lester a bucket of warm water which he quickly drank so he should be well hydrated. He's always loved warm water on cold nights. When Lester lived in my parent's backyard he always made me a little mad when I would carry 2 steaming buckets of hot water out to him to leave with him for the night and he would drink them so far down I had to go back to the house and get more and it was no easy task. I had to But of course I was happy to see him drink.
I hopped on him again yesterday and we walked around the dog pasture with Laura and Polo. My legs are sore again and it feels good.
I know you Canucks are laughing at my title saying I have no idea what "frightful" weather is:-) but I am jealous of your white Christmas!

Is there something on my leg?

2008-12-16T21:12:00.005-05:00

Christmas came early this year...

2008-12-16T08:37:00.005-05:00

Lester is one of those horses that devours his hay, doesn't stop till it's all gone. But I guess I'm alot like him though, I can't sit at a table full of food and not eat it. So in an effort to try and slow Lester's eating down Laura bought him a hay bag for the feeder. It's def' more "our" present than his;-) Thanks Laura!
Per Dr. Jason's suggestion we like to mix the bermuda hay with timothy when we can because it's courser and less likey to compact like the bermuda can. Having a choice of the bermuda and the timothy we usually found the timothy scattered around the stall the next day so this way it's all mixed and each bit should have a little of both.

The other night Andy, one of the barn owners' horses coliced (he's perfectly fine now) and so the vet and all of us were standing in front of Andy's stall talking which is next door to Lester's. I had just given out the night time hay of both bermuda and timothy and (this was before we had the hay bag)I had to laugh at Lester because each time he popped his head out to check on things he had a mouth full of the timothy, almost like he was trying to impress Dr. Jason that he was being a good boy and eating the courser hay. Once we left the stall area Lester resumed to eating the bermuda again, lol.

Peanut says "please don't eat me"

So, I did it

2008-12-15T11:19:00.006-05:00

I didn't get any "riding" ( I use that term loosely) pics, but yes I did hop on him Saturday. It was the first time I'd been on him since late July. Friday I put the saddle on him again and hand walked and trotted him and he seemed comfortable enough. He even seemed a bit proud. So Saturday I didn't have to do any barn chores so I thought it was the perfect day for it. I did clean Lester's stall though because I had time and he's so messy:-) Course about that time I realized I wrenched my neck again- I think it was from Friday night when I was walking back to the car in the dark, up the long driveway I got on all fours and did my own walk, trot and cantering- BAD idea, LOL. I'm just too old for that anymore:-( But I was determined to get on Less anyways. I hobbled up that long driveway to get him, he was on the far end of the pasture and after 3-4 yells of "LESS"!!! He popped his head up and mosied to me, finally picked up a jog the last few yards. I was disappointed to see him trip on his way to me, but that's just him. We got half way back down the driveway and he stopped and was like "wait, it's too earlier to come in, are you sure?" Then he spotted Fella and Basanje (sp) up at the barn and felt better. Less was pretty dirty so I brushed him off some and of course gave him tons of carrots. He's the tackroom troll as we call him, I ground tie him and he expects a carrot before and after you enter the tackroom. Again he had no problem with the saddle and being girthed- I have always taken it very slow and a few holes at a time, walk, couple a more holes, walk, but even so there are times that he panics about the girth.

It was in the 50's and chilly so I warmed his bit by holding it under hot water, it needed to be cleaned anyways. I've never had a problem with bridling Less, as soon as I held the bridle in the right place he opened his mouth and took the bit, one of the many things I love about him.

We walked and trotted in hand a few strides and then it was time to mount up. I walked him over to the mounting block and he stood stock still like he always does. I stayed off his back in two point for the first 5 mins and I didn't feel him "sink" at all from having a weak back so I was very pleased by that. He was a good boy. We just walked of course for about 10 mins on a long rein. He still doesn't want to turn right though and that's fine, he doesn't have to. He will go right and can circle right just fine- I mean he doesn't stumble or go completely off, he just grabs the bit from me and fights going right first before he will turn. It's kinda weird actually.

He almost got to "goose" Limo on the way back to being turned out:-)

Take the rough housing outside girls...

2008-12-10T08:34:00.002-05:00

Finally playtime not in my living room! Spooky and Limo used to play like this too and I can't believe that I never got any video of them playing outside. I'll have to find video of them later, but I did find a video of the barn owners' puppy terrorizing Limo last October.

PeaNutSo

2008-12-04T14:11:00.019-05:00

The other day I was in the barn and I turned around to see Peanut in a perfect sit and I bent down to kiss her on the top of her head and I pulled away at the last second. Weird huh? I guess I'm still not ready to "let her in"... I have no framed photos of her and non of her pics hang at work. I still only have Spooky's pictures on my bulletin board. Limo only recently was added.
But I'll admit, I do like her alot. She's become a pretty good dog and she has lot's of personality. She always has such a "happy with life" look on her face. When you pet her and scratch her neck she closes her eyes in complete and utter contentment. She is a great companion for Limo. There are times we have to step in and referee their playtime cuz they're pulling on ears and throats, but for the most part I don't worry.

She's turned into a pretty good farm dog too. To my amazement she does not chase the horses and has never tried- squirrels, deer and the heron and geese are a different story though. They are all fair game.

She cleans the buckets after the horse's have been fed, usually she knows better than to eat/ lick out of a full bucket of feed, but sometimes I have to remind her.

She's got a decent "recall" on her now, she's surprised me a couple of times when I've yelled her name and she's actually listened (I know you are just cringing Jen). Since the barn owners have 10+ greyhounds it can get a bit noisy and exciting and Peanut dashes over to check it out- as long as I catch her before she starts fence running with someone she stops in her tracks and comes flying back to me...

She also keeps tabs on me and if I go missing she runs around till she finds me.

Now that it's Winter time I've started going home at lunch around 3:30pm, pick up the girls and bring them back to work with me and let them wait in the car on the days that I go to the farm. Much to my relief Nut seems OK with this and hasn't eaten my car. Limo has done this before and knows the drill, so I wasn't worried about her.

She's weird though. I'd swear she had a herding breed in her if she wasn't a registered greyhound. When she gets excited she likes to bite at your feet. I still think she is a lab in a greyhound's body though because she LOVES the water and will lay down anywhere- cement driveway, hardwood floor, we laugh at her because her favorite place to lay down is the hard tile in front of the fireplace. When we're on the road I constantly hear "thuds" coming from the back of the car and the occasional squeal- she's spotted "something" and is trying to get at it, hitting her head on the window. Just yesterday after I got in the car after work and started to drive off, Peanut leaped from the back of my car and landed on my arm in the front seat- hitting the dashboard and all the junk I had piled in the seat and console. What was she after you ask? It appeared she was going for a dead cable spool that was laying on it's side:-x Gotta love, er "Like" her.

Credit must be given to my sis, Jen for the fabulous above photo

No Sugar for you!

2008-12-01T20:55:00.015-05:00

I swear I feel like the soup natzi from that Seinfield Episode when it comes to Lester and his sugar:-(... Alot of you have asked about results I've seen taking Lester off sugar and sugar processed treats...

Lester begging for a peppermint:

Lester begging for a carrot:

any questions?

Seriously, I haven't seen any noticeable improvements- trust me I would have blogged about them by now! ;-) Per the suggestion of the Equine massage therapist/ chiro I took Less off all (except for the occasional Holiday treat) sugar treats and put him on Supple Horse, an herbal supplement. She also suggested MSM which I have yet to get, I know- I'm terrible and lazy. I just don't think it's gonna make a difference for him. I'm seriously thinking of giving him sugar again, he loves it so much. I haven't made up my mind yet though.

*Quick recap on Lester- I've had him for 12+ years, he's been "not quite right" since I've had him- hitchy in the hind end in the early years and becoming short strided on his right front and tripping/ losing his hindend for the last 5 years. After injections in his stifle twice, right knee and right fetlock (at different times) to no real improvement it's thought that Lester has an old spinal cord injury that cause some neurological problems for him. He's not hugely uncoordinated that makes him dangerous, it just became clear that he was no longer comfortable in his work.

Baby Steps

2008-11-29T08:59:00.004-05:00

Yesterday Lester and I spent a rainy day grooming each other. Well I did most of the grooming and he sunk his teeth into my back every once in a while (not to be confused with biting). It was nice to just spend time alone with him in the barn, rain coming down and no one else was around. Less was mad at me on Thursday he even ignored me. But I can't blame him, I had some bad thoughts the last time I had been out to see him- feeling like I just didn't want to be a horse owner anymore and having to do all this work with no play (no riding). I'm usually OK with this situation, but some days I really want out of this. So Thursday was the first time I had been out to see him in 3 days and he wasn't too impressed. Laura's sister was turning them out when I got there and Less acted like he didn't even see or hear me.

So yesterday I put his saddle on- first I checked his pad for no spiders since it hadn't been touched since July. I used a girth fuzzy because I didn't know how "girthy" he would act. I have to say I was pleased with his reaction or lack there of. He didn't mind it at all and even when I walked him off he didn't do his one step pause, another step pause- it reminds me of the wedding march. I want to just put his saddle on a few times and walk and trot him out before I even think about hopping on him. I wonder if he will lose his hindend with just the saddle on? Though he still strides out short on his right front when he's at play in the arena, I never see him lose his hindend like he does/ did undersaddle. As always we will take it very slow.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T18:46:00.006-05:00

Hope you all had a great one!

"Go Potty"...

2008-11-26T08:26:00.010-05:00

They both say...now I have 2 brindles to follow me and watch me go.... (yeah I brought the camera in the bathroom with me yesterday, I thought it would be a good photo opp-see I was right)

We've dog sat alot before so we're used to it and plus our home was the first one Abby ever lived in so it's cool. She's pretty settled. But Limo's little world has been rocked! She doesn't get why there are now 2 brindles in her house...she's been doing alot of "time out" and crating.... I think she can only handle one brindle at a time;-)

Check out the Limo-Peanut-Abby Cam - username: limo, PW: garbage --VERY boring stuff;-)

Limo and PeaNutSo get along really well though. They play and play and run.

I haven't taken LimLim to the vet to access her "bum problem" yet... because the smell comes and goes, so when it goes I forget to make an appointment to take her. I also think the prob may have been from the recent kong ingredients- peanut butter and more mushy stuff. So I've been putting more of her Evo dogfood in it now instead of mushy stuff. I also had an idea, course I haven't asked yet cuz I keep forgetting to, but I was maybe gonna see if Lester vet, Dr. Matt could perhaps preform the procedure- but I still have to ask and see...

3's a Crowd...

2008-11-25T20:23:00.006-05:00

That's what Limo thinks anyways. We have greyhound company this week, remember our 3rd foster Kadabra nka "Abby"? NutSo's twin. We are "sitting" her while her family is away for Thanksgiving festivities...They are the sweetest family... One of their daughters got us these ornaments...Aren't they cute!- Thank you Savanah!

How did it become Thanksgiving?

Welcome Home John!

2008-11-20T21:34:00.003-05:00

Like I mentioned before Lester and I played a part in John and Laura's wedding 5 years ago...and what home coming is complete without a picture with me in it? John has ALWAYs teased me about having too many pics of myself ever since he visited my apartment one time and saw a whole table full of framed pics of me and my animals, mostly Lester and I at horse shows Thank you very much! Anyways, ever since that and me sleeping in the back of his suburban after a greyhound field trip (everyone else was smashed in the vehicle) all stretched out he's called me the "Princess". He says I'm high maintenance and the worst kind, that I don't think I am.... well John is pretty HM himself:-)
But I'm very HAPPY to report that John is home! He came home this afternoon and I got to chat with him some. He was laying down on the sofa with his cat in his lap... He said he stumped his surgeon with the question of "what breed of cow did my heart valve come from", that's John for you!

What's that smell?

2008-11-18T19:53:00.003-05:00

Limo's got that funky dog butt smell thing... Last week I was eating my dinner on the couch and caught a wiff and first thought it was my food that it was rotten...then I thought it was me-I had been to the barn, then I thought it was Matt's feet....I then realized it was Limo:-x It's been constant butt licking around here....Gag, she just smells...I guess I'm going to have to make an appt with the vet to have her butt glands expressed... she's going to love that- NOT...
So I have no idea what any of you have been up to because I haven't had anytime to check blogs, read email or do anything, but work. We decided this week would be a good one to disconnect over 800 nonpaying customers, while we're a man short in dispatch. I don't mind the busy work, but I'm VERY behind on my other work. I've also been working till 8pm.

John is doing better and better! He's in a private room (I think I read that today/ I haven't talked to Laura yet), they have made him get up and sit in a chair a few times a day, Laura was able to bring him some outside food- a smoothie, and some soup!

The ponies are tucked in tight with their blankies tonight, it's going to be in the low 20's by morning! :-o

Huge Update!

2008-11-14T12:50:00.003-05:00

Laura JUST called and said that John is off the ventilator, breathing on his own and asking all sorts of questions- what were the complications, what's this and that - that's John for ya! :-) She said he's a bit hard to understand what he's saying, but obviously they are able to make it out.
Laura sounded like she was on cloud nine when she called :-) Yeah I'm so happy for her, for all of us!

Still Jingling!

2008-11-14T09:39:00.003-05:00

This is a pic of John and Lester the day we picked him up from Auburn Unv. after his colic surgery. If you've ever read below the posts and read why the blog was started you'd know what a huge help both John and Laura were during mine and Lester's time of need. They have always been a second family to me, my horse and dogs.
Though their surgeries were far different from one another, both are Miracles.

John is still stable and in the ICU. Over the last day and a half John has been under lighter sedation with positive results. He's responding to the people around him, turning his head in the direction he hears someone talking and opening his eyes.
The next step is taking him off the ventilator, but the doctors won't rush it and won't give a day/ time.

keep jingling! Thank you all!

Continued Jingles for John~

2008-11-12T09:20:00.005-05:00

Thanks everyone for the well wishes and jingles...After the surgery was complete they encountered some bleeding difficulties that extended the procedure until about 11pm last night. (The surgery started around 7:30 that morning) At that time the surgeon told Laura he was stable but they want to keep him under heavy sedation and in ICU for a couple of days.
It was a LONG day for Laura and I'm kicking myself for not going and staying with her yesterday:-( She and I used to be roommates, along with 7 dogs :-) I knew if I had asked if she wanted me to come along she would have said no, so I should have just gone... but I went to the farm last night about 9pm to stay and be the night watchman- hay the horses one last time and let the dogs potty one last time before bed.

So more Jingles for John and hang in there Laura!

Jingles for John

2008-11-11T08:34:00.004-05:00

The barn owner is having heart surgery today so I'm sending ~jingles~ for an uneventful and speedy recovery!

Lester and I played a part in John and Laura's wedding 5+ years ago...

There's no place that far...

2008-11-08T21:04:00.006-05:00

I first want to apologize for the music that came on when you came here today...but it's in honor of Spooky. It was the first song I heard after Spooky died. She would have been 12 years old tomorrow, but Matt and I lost her in February. After we left the vet's that day I had to pick up a blanket for Lester- the tack shop was near the vet's and that was the plan (I didn't know I would be putting her to sleep that day). When I walked into the store this song, by Sara Evans was playing and was in it's main chorus, "If I had to run, if I had to crawl, If I had to swim a hundred rivers, just to climb a thousand walls,Always know that I will find a way, to get to where you are,Theres no place that far"

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her and wish she was still here. I long to feel her furry rested head on my shoulder at every red light I come to.

I have never loved a dog so much and don't plan to again, if I can help it. I'm weird like that.

I miss you, my one and only "Heart" dog.

Public Apology

2008-11-05T11:54:00.004-05:00

"Sorry Stacker Dude, but you did get in my way"
We aren't positive that sweet lil' Peanut is the one that caused Stacker's injury , but it's probably a safe bet this was when he got hurt. Stacker is owned by my BIL-brother in law, Stephen. Between he and my sister, Jen, they have 6 greyhounds.

I'm sorry, I laugh every time:-) I couldn't add any bubbles to this one cuz I didn't upload it, so you guys can post in the comments what Stacker and Peanut would have said.

ETA:

It was brought to my attention that Stacker doesn't accept Peanut's apology , but thankfully my sister has determined that he doesn't make a great character witness himself... apparently he has a history of this sort of thing.

Lester's Political Reaction...

2008-11-05T08:32:00.002-05:00

Presidential Prediction...

2008-11-04T15:49:00.005-05:00

I have assured a win for McCain:-) This morning when I got to work I picked up the "Get the golf ball on the tee" globe and said "If I get this ball on here then McCain will win!" I started this at around 8 AM and then about 10:30 took off to go vote... stood in line for an hour and 10 minutes, not too bad.... can you believe our county closed schools for today's voting?! I did have to stand behind a mom with a crying, screaming child who grabbed my legs thinking I was his mommy...luckily I don't think he had snot on his hands *I hope*.

It was looking bleak pretty much most of the afternoon after I had made my prediction/ bet.... my boss would walk by to see if I had done it yet... he and another co-worker said that was my only job for the day :-) they saw alot of close calls, but it just wouldn't stay, I was sure this globe was an Obama supporter....When my wrists started to hurt I put the globe down and took a break and did some work...until voila about 3:40PM I did it! there it sits- of course I had to take a pic... now I have to be careful not to bump it! As you can see it's sitting very close to my keyboard....

Ah, nothing like a job well done.

Either way this election is living history...

Fall Photos 2008

2008-11-03T11:44:00.007-05:00

My fall pictures aren't nearly as beautiful (stupid pine trees) as Grey Horse Matter's, but at least I didn't get ignored:-) just kidding.

Lessssterrrrrrrr!
Huh? Who's there?

Be right there Mom!
Yes, I broke down and had to give him a peppermint! How could I not?

Limo's Great Pumpkin

2008-10-31T07:59:00.003-04:00

I was able to find Limo a pumpkin yesterday! :-) HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE.

Lester the whinnying ninny

2008-10-30T11:07:00.005-04:00

This is really the first time Less has had a good run n buck since his tummy ache...he got new shoes yesterday and I wanted him to trot around and "loosen up" a bit- I think he did that, LOL. He was upset because I took Polo away from him. He didn't come to me so we left him- I'm an evil mommy:-) Happy grazing pony turned into crazy pony...but it cracks me up when he runs around and whinnies he sounds like such a girl!

The Panalog seems to have done the trick for the itchy spot! I was hoping to get a video of someone scratching it, but he didn't even react- which is a good thing, but I missed a video opp, lol. Anyway, I still don't know what the heck it is- after rubbing and scratching the scab off (though there was never much of one) it revealed two little holes side by side like a bite- but I tell you his leg NEVER swelled so how could it have been a bug bite?

Less was so jazzed up last night I was able to get a close up video of his ninny whinny.

Oh my gosh I just forgot I never got Limo a pumpkin :-o must go do that, hopefully I can still find one!

The 7 day itch... (photo will enlarge now;-)

2008-10-28T09:59:00.011-04:00

Actually it's been more like 14 days...Lester's itchy spot is still just as itchy as ever. There's been no change to it. If you touch or scratch it you get all kinds of butt tucks, trembling and camel nose action. I was treating it like a fungus by washing it with Malesob and putting dew poison ointment on it, but it never changed and like I said it's itchy as ever. So I asked Laura to ask the vets about it and she brought me home a tube of Panalog ointment. The boys are due for shots next week so if it's still bothering him I'll have the vet check it out.
We all know Lester can look like an Arab and a Quarter horse, but did you know he does impressions of Llamas too or maybe it's a camel?

I could just kiss those big horsie lips- actually I think I probably did after I took the shot, lol.

Less slept in his flannel/ fleece jammies last night, it was in the low 30's :-o! It's not much, but I think it helps him keep his own warmth to himself...on cold mornings I love to shove my cold hands under it:-)

Catalogue horses in blankets eat your hearts out :-p

Limo's results are in!

2008-10-26T20:06:00.008-04:00

I only got 2 out of the 5 correct- German Shepherd (37-74%)and Beagle (20-36%). Good job to Jennifer and Sientay for guessing the Chow Chow (10-19%)and Siberian Husky (less than 10%) and I don't think anyone would have ever guessed Great Pyreneese (10-19%) - LOL! I must say I'm disappointed I can no longer call her a BasShit though, it was so fitting!

GerMeagleChowPyRusky

Limo Mania...

2008-10-21T13:42:00.035-04:00

Let's recap about Limo:

Her feet turn out...

and her body is longer than she is tall...

her head is longer than her legs ...

she bites...

especially ankles and hocks.

she loves to ram her toys on everyone

and sits weird...

is a natural born Ballerina

She has strange fears...like watermelon and trash.

She's fast!

has a lovely Roo too...

So anyone want to change their guesses before Limo's DNA results come in? Hopefully they will be in next week sometime!

That's the spot...

2008-10-20T21:29:00.005-04:00

Lately Lester has been falling down-itchy on the inside of his hocks. Almost literally. I was currying him and hit the usual itchy spots and got some nose and a little leg action then I reached the inside of his hock and hit that "spot" you see on the left and he practically fell on me with glee. It was rather odd, I found the spot and it was a little scabby, but nothing I could figure out- like is it a bite, fungus, what? But every time I touched and scratched it he would "groom" the floor and he would tremble... Is this a case of it hurts so good?

Swabbed, sealed & delivered!

2008-10-20T08:00:00.018-04:00

Well sent anyways:-) We still have to wait for Limo's DNA results to be returned. We already know that Limo is a rare breed in herself, but what other breeds of dogs created her? I have my guesses, but I'm very excited- my sis bought the DNA kit for my birthday last week. You can click on the pick to see the breeds that can be identified.

This photo was reenacted with a Q-tip

This is where Limo and I first met 2+ years ago- The ramp of the trailer I now work in. She was a sick, piti-full-of worms little pup. I'm not even sure how old she was when we found her. As you can see to the left she's a bit happier these days.

I was tempted to swab alittle in Peanut's mouth so she would come out with some greyhound in here;-)

So what are your breed guesses for Limo?

Crack, Pop, no more sugar?

2008-10-16T19:42:00.005-04:00

Hmmm... well I didn't get any pics of the chiro visit:-/ I always feel funny breaking out the camera for stuff like that, don't know why though. So sorry for no pics of that. I'm still kinda processing today's visit.

Lester's left shoulder and right hip needed adjusting. She also said he was painful in all his joints and that sugar could be the culprit... his main feed doesn't consist of hardly any sugars and he doesn't get much of that anyways. But I give him sugar cubes and peppermints like there is no tomorrow:-o Could he really just be sore in the joints from sugar? She was working on another horse while I was grooming Lester and he got in a very cock-eyed position, lifting his hind leg up so I could scratch his no-no regions. While he had his leg lifted up practically over my head as I brushed him she made the comment "Could a horse with neuro problems really do that?" While I do think Lester does have some back/ neuro issues, could it all have been compounded by giving him too much sugar? She suggested never giving him sugar again- make all his treats carrots, apples, honey and other natural stuff- nothing with processed sugars. Also put him on MSM and an herbal supplement called Supple Horse which I have used in the past. Is that like the EPM or EPMS diet?

ETA: I joked with the chiro and said I would just have to buy him sugar-free peppermints and she said absolutely not, that those were made with the "Splenda" stuff and that is worse than the real sugar itself. She then told me that Splenda was first made to be Ant poison, WHAT?! But in small doses it doesn't effect humans as bad as the ants- paralyzing them to death. She then told me about Stevia Clear, a natural sweetener and she had some in her car and let me taste it- it was just as good and sweet as real sugar! I'm going back to black coffee until I can get a bottle!

Pony Tummy Update...

2008-10-16T09:19:00.006-04:00

Thanks guys for all your comments and wishing Lester PonyPigMan well. He's back to normal food rations and his belly has returned to it's normal shape/ size! We soaked his hay in water the last 2 nights giving his hay rack a mini waterfall. I've fixed him "Equine Senior Soup" as well with a little mineral oil and Apple Dex electrolytes. I love how the ES Triple Crown feed turns into a mash...
Less is seeing the chiro/massage lady today at 1pm and I'm eager to talk to her....

That's Polo, Lester's bitch, er, pasture buddy:-)

Pony had a tummy ache...

2008-10-14T14:09:00.006-04:00

Usually when someone shows up to work in the same clothes they had on the day before it meant they were out having fun the night before...not in my case. Luckily, Matt and I work together so he was able to bring me a new set of clothes because I stayed at the farm last night in the barn apartment.

When I showed up at the farm yesterday Laura had Lester and Polo already in hand:-/ She said Less had been running and whinnying and then would go down and roll. He was kicking at his stomach, standing like a saw-horse and just overall looked uncomfortable and bloated. For those of you that may not know or haven't read that far back, in May of 2007 Lester coliced, bad, and had to have surgery. They removed 15 feet of his smaller intestine and removed some fatty tissue... You just never know how a colic is going to turn out, never. Lester didn't have good odds back in 2007 and I was told that most horses that had his type of surgery sometimes didn't make it a year. But here he is today, beating those odds.

We gave him some banamine and called the vet- Laura works for the vets so it's always super easy to get a hold of them:-) We walked and did a few jog sets here and there. I cleared his stall of all hay because I knew the poor boy would have to be starved for the night. The vet came and palpated him and determined things were all where they should be. He retrieved some dry stool and he had little reflux on his tummy which was a good thing. Dr. Jason tubed and oiled him with electrolytes. He gave the familiar line of no food, but he could go out as normal in the morning and have half his dinner if all goes well today. Half of what? The Pigman doesn't get much to begin with, lol!

He still kicked at his belly for the next couple of hours off and on and he would raise his back leg high like when he wants to be scratched. I tried a couple of different things to get him to pass gas, taking his temperature, grooming him to a state of complete "relaxation" and the walking and jogging. And they all seem to have worked. By 11:30PM he wasn't kicking anymore or raising his leg and he was CRANKY as heck for food. He had pooped 3 times by then and I let him have a few bites of grass and then went to bed.

I got up at 5AM and took Less out for another hand graze. It was so peaceful and nice out. I could just make out his outline in the moonlight and hear him chomping away... course no good pics to be had. Maybe that "time" is only to be left as a memory in my own head.

I returned the angry boy to his stall and went back to bed for an hour because Polo had been laying down in his stall and I didn't want to wake him. Also I wasn't impressed with the lack of water Less drank and was hoping he would drink after a short graze, but he did not.So far so good. I think Less still looks a bit bloated, but he isn't showing any uncomfortable signs. I went and saw him on my lunch hour and brought out some senior mash with me- can't visit the Pigman with no treats/ food.

I think his gas/ compaction colic is due to lack of drinking and we suspect now that the Pigman ate all the old hay in the run in shed's racks. Who would have thought he would eat crappy hay before all that nice grass??!! :-o Laura mentioned to me over the weekend about removing that hay and it just slipped my mind:-/

Less enjoying retirement...me not so much.

2008-10-13T13:06:00.008-04:00

Less used to get really obnoxious and pushy especially towards the other horses when I went days/weeks without riding him. Maybe the turnouts/ playtime take the edge off for him because his demeanor is as if I still rode him. Or maybe he just knows those days are over?I do wonder if perhaps we might could trail ride or just hack. He used to be of such sound mind to go anywhere I wonder if that could ever be possible again? I know I stopped riding him because I felt him become uncomfortable and he spooked alot, but I've given him 2 + months off and wonder if I had him adjusted by a chiro and got on him to only walk and ask him for no work what so ever would he be comfortable with that? He not only can look like a QH at times, but when we showed I had alot of people ask me if he was a QH because he was so mellow.

I like big butts...

2008-10-10T10:42:00.002-04:00

Huevos Rancheros anyone?

2008-10-09T11:15:00.006-04:00

Well for my birthday I asked my parents for the GT Express Cooker 101. They laughed and said I would never cook anything, but got it for me anyways. I'd seen 2 infomercials for it and wanted one. After all even if I never used it at least it would give my Crock-Pot I got last Christmas some company:-)

My first attempt I realized I put too much salsa and I added a whole tortilla instead of one. It's probably best to follow the instructions in the little book that comes with it- but it's so hard for me. Not that I don't want to follow them, but I just read them wrong! It was still edible, a little undercooked though. Too my surprise Matt wanted seconds so this time I followed the instructions exactly to get the above creation. It was simple and actually pretty good:-)

Edit to add the ingredients:

1/2 cup of any salsa

2 eggs

2-4 tbl spoons of cheese

1 tortilla cut in half

*Lay each half of the tortilla in the well (that's GT Express Cooker talk) and spoon the salso onto the tortillas in the well, leave the middle empty to crack your eggs in to. I learned the hard way that you need to poke the yolk- it cooks better that way. Then close you GT cooker and go blog for 10-15 mins and volia! Sprinkle some cheese on top the last few mins of cooking.

Who Let the Arab Out?!

2008-10-08T11:27:00.010-04:00

Sing the title as in "Who let the dogs out", but replace dogs with Arab and enjoy the pics:-) p.s I'm not trying to dis Arabians, I just think Arab when I see Less' tail and neck arched as such:-)
The funny thing is these pics were taken the day before GreyFest, when the tents, tables and chairs had already been set up, but there were only a few people around... Less was snorting and looking at everything, but the next day when the huge crowd and noise was there he was all mellow and happy.

Limo goes to the vet...

2008-10-07T21:32:00.004-04:00

No worries, she was just due for her rabies shot. I also wanted her to have a lepto shot, which of course came in the all in one shot...so she got more than she needed, but I was proud of myself for forgoing the "physical" exam. Vets can usually suck me into doing anything. Going to a small animal vet is alot like going to get my car's oil changed...

Peanut had to come with us to the vet because honestly I didn't trust what she would do in the crate alone or alone in my car! So Nut went for moral support and cried and whined the whole time and she's the not the one that got the shots!

At least here there were no office cats for her to grab. Peanut's chart at her vet has now been "updated" to say she's not cat safe... reminds me of the Seinfeld episode of Elaine trying to steal and change her medical chart, though I wouldn't want to change Nut's!

Big disappointment(s)!

2008-10-06T12:01:00.014-04:00

I tried to return Peanut this weekend after she embarrassed me by not running in the "Blur of Fur" event at the farm. We had practiced so hard and I was sure she was going to do well. Even Limo disappointed me! :-o Actually I don't blame them, there were too many distractions and the "lure" was a lunge whip with a dead fur something tied to the end of it- from like 50 yards someone waved it back and forth.... I let go of the Nut and she stood there, so I ran up ahead of her and turned around to see her taking a pee break- niiiice. Limo wouldn't run either, she ran straight to the crowd, there were just too many distractions for her little self.

Peanut didn't win softest fur either :-/, John and Laura's greyhound, Icy won it so I think the whole thing was rigged...

We totally missed our "Find your Grey's Twin" competition too:-( We were going to pair up with Kadabra (Abby), our last foster...

So can any of you tell who is Peanut and which is Kadabra (Abby)? Sometimes I have to look at the date of the pics to figure it out if it's like some of these poses...

But I was swapping horses around and we missed the Twin thing- Sorry Dawn!

Frosty who is normally in the back pasture was not a happy camper with all the going ons- There were so many dogs, tents, and just so much activity for GreyFest. Frosty was running herself silly, I tried to go out and catch her and she just kept whizzing by me like I wasn't there. So we had to go get Lester and Polo and use them as "Frosty bait"- which worked. We left Less and Polo in the back pasture and I took Frosty to the pasture across from the house away from all the commotion. Well technically she dragged me all the way up there. So while my two dogs were big disappoints for the day Lester shined as usual being the well rounded pony he is:-) He LOVES crowds and commotion, he thinks it's all about him. He and Polo grazed and took in the sights all day and weren't spooked by any of it. Frosty was relieved to be out of there.

Limo- A rare New Breed

2008-10-01T14:50:00.012-04:00

BREED: Limo

GENERAL APPEARANCE: A somewhat asymmetrical, low-built, powerful dog with a deep chest and turned out forefeet.

HEAD: Triangular, with ears in opposition to one other.

TEEF: White and pointy.

EYES: Brown and quizzical.

TAIL: Erect.

NECK/TOPLINE/BODY: Length of body should be at least 1.5 times the height. Powerful forelegs tapering to graceful hindquarters. Short, stubby neck and deep chest.

MOVEMENT: Surprisingly agile and quick.

TEMPERAMENT: Kind, confident, and alert.

Source: The American Limo Club (ALC).

(Credit of new breed description goes to my friend Carter aka cornbread, she left this on my Facebook page! LOL- I just dug up the appropriate pics-, she's always taken great interest in the Limo)

And to think that we got her spayed and didn't know we had a rare breed on our hands! Gah!

Eat my dust, Mom!

2008-09-30T10:40:00.020-04:00

Pony was pretty spunky last night! I think he's getting tired of me chasing him off, sometimes I have to hide behind a jump standard so he doesn't squash me. I know he wouldn't mean to, but I know that it "could" happen. So even though I provoke the behavior, I do have some safety per cautions:-) I think he enjoys our play times, but yesterday he ran around screaming his head off :-o

He's been begging me to let him grow his mane long, so I've let him, at least for a little while ;-)

Sometimes he can move so "poetically" across the ground and look so round, soft and balanced.

And then other times it's that short, choppy, dragg'n my toes, unbalanced look. He never can change direction and swap leads and get the back half, never, even when he was in work. We never made it far enough in our dressage to worry about swapping leads so I didn't dwell on it.

Here Less is "cutting" imaginary cows (he must have seen your post cdncwgrl!)

actually he's refusing this huge fence ahead of him

Limo does Ballet

2008-09-29T11:21:00.017-04:00

Just because I put her in a "girly" outfit doesn't mean she's gonna act like one :-)

this was a combined effort routine...

Doggie Playtime...

2008-09-26T09:27:00.007-04:00

Honey combs big, ya ya ya...she loves her HC and as you can see in the video she loves to shove it on everyone...

I love Limo's look of defeat...

My turkey baster idea was a flop...

2008-09-25T08:46:00.003-04:00

I like to make the girls Kong treats that I can freeze to give them hours of enjoyment- actually they only last 30 minutes are so. When I leave for work I give them each one and by the time I get to work and check Limo Cam they both have finished with them or close to it. The frozen ones give them at least an extra 10 mins-15 mins.

I mix in plain yogurt, peanut-butter, some soaked kibble (EVO) and some dog treat dust (I always empty the crumbs into a little container to save for Kongs) . I have a can of tomato paste too to add to it.
I stop of up the little Kong hole with a Puperoni or something similar, they really need to invent an eatable plug to go with these Kongs....

So then came my bright idea so I thought. I would make it all up in a bowl and make it liquidity and pastey and then I would suck it out with a turkey baster and all it's contents would be transferred into the Kong. :-( It didn't work. It would only suck up a little bit at a time and then some of the kibble would get clogged in the hole. I even cut the tip of the t. baster off so the opening would be bigger and that didn't work either. I had to resort back to making it a bit thicker and just sliding it in with a butter knife.

So what other Kong mixtures can I make up for them to try?

Pony Playtime

2008-09-18T10:18:00.026-04:00

Less can be pretty playful in the turnout. He prances around and tests to see if I'm going to chase him off:-) and he usually has a mouthful of grass while doing every bit of it. You can see at least one blade of grass in almost every shot, LOL. I want to teach him to rear and buck on command :-p not really. I keep sugar cubes in my left pocket and dog treats in my right.

here I'm teaching him to bunny hop.

but he wanted to do his impression of a fighting stallion instead...

he jumped some poles:-)

We're Back...

2008-09-14T20:23:00.003-04:00

Much to Laura P.'s delight we have returned home and have Limo and the Nut back in our possession. I was surprised to hear such a good report on Lil Ms. Limo, apparently she was an angel:-o Laura said she'd even keep her! Limo was a good deer chaser and farm companion to Ken, our farm manager. Ken even let Limo ride in the seat next to him on the mule when he went to spread manure- she is a pretty good girl when she wants to be... but I was not at all shocked at how bad the Nut was. She cried and bit at the crate and kennel fencing the whole time. And to make matters ever worse for Laura, was P'Nut had to be leash walked because last Saturday she was running through the horse pasture, chasing the geese and flipped when she hit a ditch- I missed the action, but Laura said she tumbled head over feet...she got right up and ran back to us, then proceeded to jump in the lake and swim after the geese. So really I thought she was fine. But by the next day she was limping and a bit swollen in her ankle so Monday before we left I dropped P'nut off at the vet to get an X-ray. As the vet's office cat strolled in and hopped up on the desk, I told the receptionist that Peanut is NOT cat safe, and she would grab a cat in a heartbeat. Nut never saw the cat hop on the desk because she was starring too intently at the little kitty that was in a cage up for adoption...Again as I handed the Nut off I told her she is not cat safe... Laura picked P'nut up around 1pm. I think all of the vet staff was very relieved. Peanut wailed the whole time and even cut her eye because she had her face so pressed up against the cage trying to reach the office cats. Apparently there are 2 cats and despite my warnings she managed to grab both cats :-o Both cats are fine and I don't know the whole story, but I am miffed that they didn't listen to me and it happened twice! $220 and 2 grabbed cats later Peanut's leg was just bruised and a bit strained...nothing serious.

It's good to be home again and be with the "kids". Less has been extra sweet lately.

Wipe Out(s)

2008-09-14T19:24:00.013-04:00

That is Matt standing out in the waves. I took this pic from our balcony, we stayed at a really nice condo in Panama City Beach called Aqua. We lucked out with the weather and got in a lot of beach time. We have a little red raft that we take out in the waves. I have a bad issue about touching the bottom of the ocean with my feets so even if I'm in 2 ft of water I want to be on that raft:-) I rode in some sweet waves, but I also had my share of wipe outs :-o I was riding this one wave in on the trusty red raft and the wave just dropped away and I fell forward and got the raft rope around my neck, Matt had to rescue me, but of course he was laughing at me :-x I have the hardest time getting up and out of the water before I get pounded by more waves:-/

So after a day of swimming Matt found this lil guy in his swimsuit... what the heck is it?? We found alot of them when we walked the beach. It's just a clear blob.

We didn't really get any good pics... we were lazy about bringing the camera with us everywhere this time. We ate a ton of seafood and I had my fair share of Margaritas of all flavors:-p

Withdrawal

2008-09-02T12:49:00.006-04:00

So it's finally sunk in that I don't and won't be riding Lester anymore. Really sunk in. It's been a tough 2 weeks at work and not being able to ride him and release some stress was extra tough. Heck I only got to see him twice last week! But I stand by my decision, I know it's the right one.

It's weird how little pieces of the Lester "puzzle" have seemed to come together.

We've changed farriers yet again. But this time we are going with the flow and are going to use the barn's regular farrier. This will make life easier on everyone, but I will miss shoeing time with Ronnie a lot though, he is such a character and was our farrier for over 15 years (he used to shoe my mare too). He taught me so many new words like "faheater" and "shawr" :-) He never let me down and was always reachable. I'm going to really miss seeing him every month:-( I think Lester will too.

So having a new farrier shoe Lester this last time was telling. He was no better and no worse than if Ronnie had done him. The "issues" have never been his feet and the way he had to be shod, I think it's been in his back this whole time.

Less has always had this little white "bird dropping" looking spot on his back. You can see it in the pic below. You know how places of injury can grow back with white hair... it just kinda makes me wonder now.

They're even now

2008-09-01T21:45:00.003-04:00

At least I hope. Tonight Matt found a "nick" and some missing hair on Limo's shoulder... The rough play can get out of hand sometimes and I'm having to referee more, course Limo always goes back in for more. Though Peanut did here's during play and last month Limo wasn't playing when she latched on to Peanut's nose...This past Saturday I saw the friend that had Peanut in her adoption kennel sometime before sending her up to SEGA for us to place. I asked her if she knew any Peanut stories. I'll preface this by saying I can see exactly why the trainer would say this: Peanut wasn't a favorite in her trainer's kennel. She was unruly with the other dogs, cage biter and wouldn't jump in a top crate- she had to live on the bottom level with the boys. After Peanut's racing career which was quite good even though it was a low end track the trainer recommended to the owner that Peanut not be placed in a home as a pet. But the owner insisted that Peanut get adopted out. When the trainer handed Peanut to my friend she apologized for sending her such a bad dog. The trainer's rule of thumb was if she wouldn't want the greyhound as a pet herself then she tried not to place them. I do agree with her, there are far too many good ones that have NO issues or problems that still get put to sleep all the time. While Peanut has seemingly fit into the pet life style, the next "bad" or "crazy" one that a trainer is forced to place might not have such a happy ending.