…and my two mares. This photo captures their personalities so well. Max, my lovable little screwball, is being his doofusy self and terrorizing Jezebelle, which is what he does all. day. long. especially in the winter. Jezebelle, my lovely longsuffering mare, is standing there with a sweet, impassive expression, like she does most of the time. And Starr, my little diva mare, looking just slightly ticked off on Jezebelle’s behalf, but mostly sweet.
And I love this. I love Jezebelle’s extremely short, extremely fuzzy neck. I love Max’s little hooky white marking. I love how the three of them are arranged in order of their appearance (but not their importance) in my life. I love how they are standing in roughly but not exactly the same way, and my wild, spirited mare isn’t quite peeking out all the way from behind my in-your-face boy. It’s my herd.
Today I drove down to Indiana to see my friend Marielle, hang out with her herd of brown Arabs, and bring home the ultimate souvenir–a little bay arab of my very own named Star.
So here are TONS of pictures of our day seeing as we are both camera-holics!
^The trip down took me about 2.5 hours. This was the longest solo trip I’ve ever made with a trailer and I was pretty nervous, but it went all right. I only missed one turn but I didn’t get lost (yay!) and I was very glad to finally arrive Marielle’s barn.
^the farm is a magical place with chestnut and bay Arabs and half arabs EVERYWHERE. They just kind of roam free, around the place. It’s pretty adorable. This is Marielle and some of her friends.
^here comes the herd.
^After meeting the herd she took me on a tour of the beautiful property. Seeing as it was cold and yuckie we took the utility vehicle instead of riding. This is a particularly beautiful spot on the farm (Although there were many particularly beautiful spots.)
^After getting back to the barn, we tacked up and rode. First I rode Buckwheat, Marielle’s CP gelding, and she rode Melody. Then we switched, and I got a chance to ride Mel. She is so tiny and delicate and sensitive, it’s quite the feeling, let me tell you! Marielle has done a great job with her and they have an obvious bond. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any pictures on those two (because we were to busy riding). But then we put them away and saddled up Star. I had Marielle ride first so I could see her (pictured here).
^then I got on. She was a sweet little ride and has such a smooth trot. She’d make a great WP horse!
^love this photo, Marielle.
^(”Hey Mom, whatcha doin?” Says Maebelline.) After we rode starwe set up some jumps so that Maebelline could strut her stuff. And she did strut, let me tell you! She is one talented and showy little girl! She and Marielle will do great things (once Marielle makes the hard decision of WHAT to do….)
Here is a video of Mae jumping:
^I think this photo of Marielle & Maebelline is adorable.
^unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and I had to make the hard decision to head home, because it’s a long drive. So we loaded up. Star hopped RIGHT in, it was hilarious and adorable. I am used to more of a fight because Jezebelle likes to make a big “production” out of loading. Hopefully we will work that out this summer.
^Star’s buddies wonder where she’s going.
^Saying goodbyes.
^The ride home was uneventful and quick, and we were greeted at home by excited people and adorable welcome home signs.
^My dad and my sister say hello. Star will definitely be a family horse, and I think she’ll do the job admirably. She seems so friendly and forgiving.
^Star with her welcome home signs. How cute.
^It was pretty warm out tonight so even Jamison came out to the barn (for the first time!) and met the horsies.
It was a very long, very exciting, very happy day, and I am tired. Thank you, Marielle, for “having me over” to meet your horsies, and for giving me such a great and generous gift in Star. I cannot wait to begin working with her and trail riding with family and friends and *really* teaching my sisters to care for and ride their own horse. My family thanks you too.
In horses, colic is a term that covers a variety of gastrointestinal disturbances. It’s basically an equine tummyache. A really, really bad tummyache. Here’s what wikipedia has to say about colic: wikipedia link Colic is basically every horseman’s nightmare. It’s freakishly painful for the horse, it can get nasty really fast, it can require major abdominal surgery to remove impactions or straighten out a twisted gut (and some people end up putting their horse down rather than pay the $2k+ cost of the surgery) and aside from vigilance and good dietary care and proper horse management, there’s no way to avoid it. Some horses are more prone to colic than others, and they may colic because of stress, or changes in the weather, or abrupt feed changes, or because they simply didn’t like the pink blanket you put on them last night. Some horses go their entire life without a colic episode. Rachael the wonder-neighbor has owned almost a dozen different horses on and off since before she was my age and she’s never had to deal with it. I was hoping I would be as lucky. But I wasn’t.
This morning I woke up earlier than usual to a banging noise in the barn. It wouldn’t stop. I thought maybe Max got himself stuck somewhere, perhaps on his water bucket or something. He’s silly enough to do something like that. So I flew down the stairs in my PJ’s and bathrobe, put on my black peacoat over top of that, and stepped into my red rubber boots. Got out to the barn, and yes, it was Max making the noise, but he wasn’t stuck–he was throwing himself around, kicking the walls, flailing, pacing, sweating, his legs would buckle and then he’d get back up, go down again and roll, wild, scared look in his eyes…all in all not a happy camper. He nickered at me when I came in (as usual) and came over for some lovin, as if to say “omg Mom I’m so glad you’re here, what took you so long?”
I watched in horror, hoping he would quit. He didn’t. So I took off running (bathrobe sticking out from my coat, flowing behind me like a superwoman cape) towards Rachael’s house and burst in the door. She was in the kitchen doing schoolwork with her kids. I breathlessly told my story, and she said “Yep, he’s colicing.” She came over to observe and advise. We called the vet’s practice. In an unbelievably fortunate turn of events, Dr. S (my favorite vet in the practice) was just finishing up a call less than 10 miles away and would be with us in less than 15 minutes. (their practice is located more like 45 miles away and they cover a huge radius, so to have somebody RIGHT THERE and ready to come was like, totally divinely ordained).
Meanwhile Rachael and I waited. Max was settling down a bit so he wasn’t so shaky by the time the Dr. got there. Good sign. He also farted a lot. Another good sign. Dr. S examined him and pronounced his vitals as being in good shape. After sedating him with dermosedan (as I watched I hearkened back to my other vet experiences and said to myself, “Dermosedan, $27.50! yippee!) and after the little guy began getting a bit drowsy, Dr. S put in a nasogastric tube–i.e. a tube from his nostril into his stomach–and introduced about a half a gallon of mineral oil into his system. The mineral oil acts as a horsey laxative. All the while, we were having a conversation about the recently-passed holiday. (Dr. S was called away from his thanksgiving dinner to go suture a pony who got his legs caught in barbed wire fence.) And he didn’t bat an eye at my interesting get-up.
And less than an hour later Max was resting more comfortably and the good dr. and his assistant went on their merry way and I was poorer. Oh, how I love vet bills. I watched Max for the rest of the morning then headed off to school (and worried the entire time I was there–even called the sisters and had them check on him for me.) When I got back home, there was a pile of new poop in his stall…never have i been so happy to see horse poop, LOL! Hopefully when I go back out in a few minutes, there will be more. His gut was sounding more “normal” too. (Makes me glad for all of the times I’ve just stood there and listened for the heck of it–I actually know what his normal is! Go me!)
Anyway, I hope my little booger is on the mend and doesn’t make a habit out of such nonsense. I really don’t want to do that again. And again. And again.
Today the Michigan Junior Classical League conference was held in Ann Arbor, and I was supposed to attend with Dr. Anderson and a couple of other students. We were to meet at GVSU in front of the “yellow flower sculpture thingie” at 6-flipping-oh’clock AM and make the 2.5 hour drive together. Last night I laid out my clothes and makeup, packed my school bag with knitting, homework, a horse magazine, and a giant bag of Peanut M&M’s (the official candy of the GVSU Classics dept.), set my alarm for 4:30 AM, and went to bed early.
And then I woke up the next morning and thought, “Hm, it’s awful light out…does it get light at 4:30 AM already??” And I looked at the clock, which for some unexplainable reason had neglected to ring (No, I didn’t set it for 4:30 PM instead of AM) and it read 7:00. And I said lots of bad words. And then I called Dr. Anderson and left a very garbled still-half-asleep “OMG I’m SO SORRY” message on his phone. I was pretty bummed out about not being able to go (and looking like a real flake, thanks to my dysfunctional alarm clock).
But, no use crying over spilled milk or missed conferences…so I set about putting my Saturday to good use. I ran some errands in the morning, then when Dad got home from work, we toiled away on the barn until dusk. We finally got the doorposts in! I am so excited about this. Hopefully next week we’ll be able to finish the doors and hang them up, and then the barn is well…very close to completion. We still will need to do random trim work, soffit, and fascia. But all the heavy work will be done. And that’s pretty cool, methinks.
Before shot, from earlier this summer:
see? no doorposts.
Brenna pounds it over…
Digging a posthole. Max is so helpful!! (not…)
The Little Dog is getting to be as big as the Big dog. He’s getting fairly handsome, too. What’s that he has in his mouth? Looks like a stick.
Um, nope. It’s actually a deer leg. Yum, Yum.
Jake boppin’ around in his wheelchair. No, he is neither injured nor handicapped. You know how most kids strap on their rollerblades or get on their bike when they want to go to their friends’ houses? Well Jake takes his wheelchair out for a spin instead. And he parks it in front of our house with everyone elses’ scooters and bikes. hi-larious.
This is the neighbors’ new cow. He looks OK with a saddle on (Rachael: “Yeah, he’s got a lot of bling”) but out in the field, well….mooooo….
And this is the barn with our finished doorposts. This makes me so happy. Yay for doorposts.
I also hung Christmas lights in the rafters today. Isn’t it gorgeous? I was so sick of coming home after dark and doing chores in the cold dark, fumbling around with a dim lantern. But the Christmas lights are just so warm and homey and peaceful. I love it.
So, in spite of my thwarted conference plans, it was a productive, satisfying day.
