06.29.08
Posted in Horse Stuff at 11:06 am by Kerri
Kelli and I just got back from the Fraase Family Reunion in Embden, ND and a visit with our friends Gene and JoAnn in Aberdeen, SD. The reunion was good, we laughed a lot, and they missed Phyl.
Our friend JoAnn has 2 horses, 3 ponies, 2 minis and 2 mini spotted asses. The first day we were there, JoAnn was driving her well broke mini, and Kelli was driving her 3 year old pony that had previously been sent to a trainer. We had a foot rope on her, that I was running from the passenger seat. We think that possibly the trainer only trotted her, because she absolutely did not want to walk. She wanted to make it easier to pull and always trot, but Kelli wouldn’t let her. She needed to learn how to pull at the walk.
She’d balk and Kelli would be beating her butt, and she’d just stand there for a long time, then she’d have a fit. She got mad and reared and jumped around, getting her leg over the shaft and bending it. So Kelli and I bent the shaft back and then raised them so she wouldn’t be able to get a leg over so easily. She kept having fits, but seemed to be getting the idea. Then she had to pull us up a small grade, and she was almost at the top and she really got mad. She was rearing and spinning and I kept taking her foot away, then she’d stop, I’d give it back, and Kelli would ask her to walk again, and she’d pitch a fit again. I was grabbing a cross brace to keep from getting thrown out. Finally, she reared up, and threw us backwards, and when she came down, the cart just gave up, and Kelli and I were gently laid down on the ground. The point at which the shafts attached to the basket of the cart wasn’t braced or reinforced, so it just gave up, but in slow motion. The whole cart is made of pretty lightweight tubing (and our asses once again made the difference).
So, there Kelli and I were, on our backs but still in the seat of the cart. The pony wasn’t being asked to move on anymore, so she stood there huffing, with a leg over the other shaft (that she didn’t bend the first time). Kelli and I both rolled out and got up, and then just stood there laughing. We extricated the pony from the twisted cart and harness. I pulled the cart back to the barn. Needless to say, it’s going to take some major work to get to where it’s usable again, and will need to be reinforced better. The shafts will need to be cut off and discarded, then new, and better shafts added. Luckily, the basket came out unharmed.
Kelli ground drove her a while, which the pony was fine at (afaik), since she didn’t have to walk while pulling any weight. So Kelli brought her back to the barn, and we set up the travois with two heavy wheels attached. Then Kelli took her out to the field again. It was seriously hot that day, so I waited in the shade of a tree where I could still see. That pony had some definite attitude going that day. She reared, did caprioles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:KochCapriole.jpeg, everything she could think of to get out of the work of pulling something heavy at a walk. She’d also have times where she was walking along fine, but then if Kelli turned her away from her friends she’d have a fit. Eventually Kelli got to a point where the pony was behaving acceptably, and quit for the day. (The next day Kelli ground drove her pulling the travois and she was tons better, still a bit balky at times, but no rearing or airs above the ground that I saw.)
So that’s our biggest adventure from the trip
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03.22.08
Posted in Ian Chronicles at 3:12 pm by Kerri
Went to Elliott’s and back, at the walk. His first time out this year. Only got a little bit stupid at the creek/culvert. Good otherwise.
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06.26.07
Posted in Horse Stuff, Daily Journal at 2:10 pm by Kerri
I had Orie put down this morning. I went out there to check on her, and it looks like a leg was back on the foal. The foal’s head and one leg were sticking out, and it was cold, dead. She was exhausted, and it looks like she had flailed around quite a bit. I couldn’t pull it. When the vet got here he said she was becoming toxic. Since I had planned to put her down for her arthritis after this foal, there seemed to be no point in her suffering any longer. Still really hard to do.
I knew she was going to foal today, cuz she was waxing last night. I wish I’d checked on her, but I thought a 20 yr old mare could get the job done by now.
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05.23.07
Posted in Daily Journal at 9:18 am by Kerri
Rain, Rain
Go Away,
Come Again
Another Day
I can finally see the sky today, after 2 and a half full days of rain. I have no idea how much, because our rain gauge is broken, but everything is sopping wet. The wind is blowing now, to dry things out again. The hole in our back yard has about a foot of muddy water.
I’ve been working a lot, haven’t been writing much. BUT, I hope to have this Memorial Day weekend completely off.
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05.21.07
Posted in Daily Journal at 2:16 pm by Kerri
It’s raining again. I haven’t checked the rain gauge, but it’s pretty muddy outside. We got dumped on yesterday, and it’s been raining off and on again today.
Orie is starting to bag up (really this time), so I expect her to foal in about 2 weeks.
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05.20.07
Posted in Ian Chronicles, Daily Journal at 9:17 am by Kerri
Click on photos to see larger version
Yesterday I went to the Montana Draft Horse and Mule Association Spring Gathering. It was TOO MUCH FUN! I wanted Ian to be around all those draft horses, because he was very offended by a horse with chain end traces and a forecart last year. The event was held at Donna Reimer’s Pioneer Mule Ranch in Roy, MT.
The first event was the log pull, so I took Ian over to watch. The weather was cool, damp and windy, so several of the horses were a bit frisky. At first Ian thought those horses making so much noise were going to eat him, but he only spun around to keep an eye on them. I even put him in a position where the team and the log would circle us. (They had metal eveners that made lots of noise too.) When they started the log pull, I positioned him as near to the start/finish as I could, without being in the way. This way they would be coming towards us making all that noise and snapping their knees. After several runs, he actually started to get bored, so I went and harnessed him up. We did the log pull twice. Ian did awesome, me, not so good. We killed several cones, but had a great time.
Lunch was a wonderful spread of meats and cheeses plus many salads and desserts. I was going to stick strictly to my diet, but someone brought rhubarb pie - yum! I also had to have one tiny piece of Scott’s Famous Brownies. Kelli and Russ got there right about the time that lunch was winding down.
After lunch was the obstacle course. We got to watch the teams go and help with the judging for a while, and then we went. Kelli was my passenger, with Shelby. The first obstacle was a cone encircled by a chalk line. The requirement was to circle the cone to the right, always keeping your right hind wheel within the chalk line. It was a test of how well your team/horse comes over and a test of the drivers skill. Ian did really well, except that he hadn’t had to go a full circle in a long time, and he thought that was a bit excessive. The second obstacle was a reclining lawn chair, with a dead body in it. The dead body was created by Scott Koetting by stuffing and old pair of overalls with sleeping bags and towels, with rubber boots for the feet and a balaclava for the head. You had to pull your horse or team into a circle marked with chalk near the dead body and stay there while your passenger got out and loaded the body into the carriage. Ian thought the body was rather scary, but still listened to me enough that I could get him in the circle. We got the body and moved on.
After we’d collected the
body, on the way to the
dock.The next obstacle was the dock, where you need to back your carriage into a partially constructed run-in shed, next to a table. The idea was to leave the dead body on the slab (the table). There were used-car flags flapping on the top edge of the shed. We haven’t really got the hang of backing with the 4 wheel carriage yet. There was lots of pilot error, and Ian got frustrated with all the turn, back, whoa, turn, etc. Several times he just kept backing once he got started. We gave up without really finishing that obstacle.
Starting to attempt to dock,
before Ian was frustrated.
Next was the creek crossing. Ian juked left then right, then decided he’d have to do it, and tip-toed into the water. I was so happy with him. He’d been across that creek last year, but it was quite a fight.
The creek crossing - Good boy!
Next we wound along on the edge of a hay field to the county road. There is an actual bridge on the county road, but they used cones to make it narrower. We trotted right across. Ian has been across that bridge before but the cones made it more scary. You could feel him slow down and raise his head to appraise the situation, and then he decided it was ok, and put his head down and accelerated. Good boy! The last obstacle was 3 cones that you had to slalom through, making sure that your inside wheels went through the small circles of chalk. This was really easy for us, because it was set up for teams pulling a large wagon.
The slalom.
We were so happy when we were done, that we did the course again, backwards. They’d picked up all the cones, but we still had fun.
I was really happy with Ian. He came a long way yesterday. When we were hooking up for the obstacle course, a team came trotting by not 20 feet away, with chains and stuff clanking, and the wagon making odd booming noises. He hardly turned an ear.
I thought we were done for the day, so I unhooked and unharnessed Ian, and gave him his goody. I was done before I realized that everyone was getting ready to go out on a pleasure drive. I thought Ian had done very well for me, and I didn’t want to make him do more that day. So, Kelli, Russ and I went to get supper. When we got back it was just starting to rain, and the crew was back from the pleasure drive, so I loaded Ian up and went home.
It was a great day!
You can see more photos at Spring Gathering.
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05.17.07
Posted in Ian Chronicles, Daily Journal at 7:55 am by Kerri
I’m done doctoring Victor. It’s a relief to be done. Orie doesn’t act like she ever wants to foal, except she’s so big. It was wishful thinking to say her bag was coming on. Since Dacotah was about a month behind schedule, I’m thinking Orie will be too. In some ways, I really hope she is still going to foal, it’d be nice to have a pal for Victor, and I wouldn’t have to put her down til the fall. In other ways, I think it would be good to put her down right away, she’s in so much pain.
We tried to bend the hames last night to better fit Ian’s neck, and it didn’t work. There’s a hole in the hames right about where I need them bent (from the terrets I took out), and Scott was afraid to reef on them too much for fear they’d break at the hole. So, I adjusted the hames straps to make the top wider and the bottom tighter. I thought I had tried this in the past, without success, but maybe not. Anyway, my only worry is that the hames will pop off of the collar, but I think if I really make it tight at the bottom, we’ll be fine. Now, hopefully, the collar will spread at the top and he’ll be more comfortable.
After I got the harness adjusted, I ground drove him. I wanted to put him to and go for a short drive, but I was running out of daylight, and he was acting kinda spooky. Once we started, though, he was good as gold, with a forward walk (yay!) and turning well. He acted like I’d been doing it all winter. I’ll drive him today and see how everything works. I need to get a little driving in on him, so we can go to the Montana Draft Horse & Mule Association’s Spring Gathering this weekend. I want him to get used to the big hitches with their chains jiggling and everything. They are also going on a pleasure drive that I hope to go on, too.
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05.15.07
Posted in Daily Journal at 9:22 am by Kerri
Adelaide brought me a nice fat gopher this morning! So nice of her. Then she ate him, well, most of him. There are a couple of choice bits left on the concrete pad that I hope Perth will eat, or the birds.
Yesterday was a bad day. I had to go to the chiro, dentist and eye doctor. Chiro went good, the dentist not so good. I have a cavity, so I get to go back next week. Then, at the eye doctor’s, it took 2 hours for my appointment. Not because I was waiting in the lobby either, I got right in. We go to him because he’s a opthalmologist, which Scott needs for the diabetes and I need for retinal tears, but he’s SO DANG SLOW! He can’t talk and chew gum at the same time, and he tells stories. I’m fighting a sinus infection, so about halfway through I got a sinus headache, and by the time I left it was trying to turn into a migraine. I took some ibuprofen right away, and was able to drive home. My DH had supper ready, bless his soul, so I ate and then went and laid down for a while. When Scott got me up to doctor Victor I was better, but still fragile. The good news is I definitely do not have cataracts, like my twin sister did.
Today isn’t too bad, still feel a bit fragile.
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05.14.07
Posted in Daily Journal at 9:54 am by Kerri
We have 2 holes in our yard. One was from a water leak, the main line coming into our house. The black plastic pipe was split, Scott thinks it happened when they installed it, or it was a defect in the pipe, and it finally let loose. So, our nice neighbor Russell Bradley came over and dug it up with his backhoe. When he filled it back in, there wasn’t enough dirt for the hole.
The other hole is at the back of the house, where Les is going to put in a window in the basement. He brought his new toy, a skidsteer with backhoe attachment, last week to dig the whole. The windows aren’t in yet, afaik.
We loaned our tractor to Dane, and we need it back to fix our holes. Assuming the windows ever come in!
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Posted in Daily Journal at 9:50 am by Kerri
This morning Victor was wonderful to doctor. He was laying down, and didn’t even get up when I went over to him. So, I put the halter on him, and gave him his molasses/SMZ mixture while he was laying down. I’m glad I got the right combination figured out. I was hoping to find a solution to keep him from getting sour on people.
I’ll try to get some pics soon.
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