New Trails

Here are shots of the bulldozer work from yesterday and today. First the girls are riding past the oak tree, about to take a left at what we'll term for the public blog, "A.Q." The special clearing for a future cabin.

Turning left off the main trail.

Fat Suburbanite Dad's tree marker deep in the dark woods- till now.

Scott in the new clearing. Orange tree marker on the left outside the picture.

Looking left coming out at the creek from "A.Q." and looking at the new lane in the road through Beaver Crossing.

Monday will bring more new roads, widening the creek road, and making actual trails through the woods where the tree markers are.

Sunny and 74

I'll try to recreate the weeks I didn't blog. These pictures may or not be truly representative of the week I have in mind, but there's no rain and no snow in these, so close enough.
We've had a mild winter till January, and the highlight of this mild winter was a week of warm weather with a high of 74 for us.
Here you see the girls enjoying the time to catch some sun and activity.
One of the many blessings of homeschooling is the ability to spend your days flexibly, and we took advantage of that during our heat wave.

The Laminitis Saga

Tonight I sit at the computer, the savory smell of au gratin potatoes and ham wafting toward me. I can see from my vantage point Becky, riding the mare bareback in the luxuriant green field. All is right with the world. But it wasn't always this way. In April I noticed that Libby was lame in her back leg. I waited a few days but then called the vet. The next day I was extremely worried because she was now limping on all four feet! The vet came the day after that and immediately suspected founder, or laminitis. Libby went into the shed and onto a bland and skimpy diet of hay with a handful of minerals each day. I found on Dr. Google that grass founder happens when the hind gut doesn't digest carbs well, hence the inflammation in the hoof- think of gout in a human- so I added a probiotic and enzyme supplement. Things looked up. Soon after she was penned up, Libby felt better again with no more heat or heartbeat in her hooves. The farrier came. He trimmed her very short to help relieve pressure in her hooves, even though at that point she was feeling perfectly fine. After the trim she wasn't fine anymore. She was in excrutiating pain for exactly eight days. I had her on pain medicine and was massaging her to help with the stress. During that time we got the results of the radiographs (the first ones didn't develop correctly and we assumed they would show little to no damage anyway, as Libby had healed so quickly.) But the x-rays showed terrible damage to one front hoof and moderate damage to the other. So bad, in fact, that between the pain and the knowledge of what had happened in the bone of her hoof, I was close to putting her down. Then on the eighth day after her trim, she felt perfectly fine again. We decided to try one round of corrective shoeing and see what happened. It was a hard decision because there was a good chance the shoes would hurt at first, there was no guarantee that she would be sound ever again, even with the shoes, and they were expensive. She loved the shoes and pads from the moment she got them. No more lameness whatsoever. Lots of galloping and jumping though. (Not with us on her, but still a good sign to see her want to use those hooves.) And instead of being banned from the pleasure of grazing for ever and ever, which is what we expected her fate to be, she grazes all day and goes into the pen with her porky pony friends overnight. I haven't been able to afford to have the vet come back. Libby threw a shoe a few weeks into wearing them, didn't seem to mind, and proceeded to throw two more. In the meantime, we rode the poor creature. She loved it. She wanted to go faster, but we held her back. The icing on the cake for Libby's recovery was when our young friend came to trim all the equines today. She's an apprentice farrier so she was affordable, and the horses loved her. She liked the look of Libby's bare feet and agreed that since she isn't lame, we should feel free to ride and enjoy her. Looking back I wish that I had not had the x-rays taken, and had had my own farrier trim her instead of the founder specialist farrier. But what's done is done, and my plan for our future is to keep an eye on Libby's weight and ride her as much as we can without causing lameness. I pretend that the x-rays are somehow wrong, since it's hard to believe that such a sound and fit mare has a fatal flaw inside her front hooves.

Portrait of Mr. B

Here's Mr. B in the field this evening. I snapped it quickly as I scanned the field for Becky on Libby. I was shocked at how much I liked it. So you have to look at it.

A New Friend

"Tips" is an elderly gentleman who needed a strong fence. He's been on the lam since November, but was finally captured a few days ago.
His owner, who's a good friend of ours, needed a place to stash him while her fence is mended, so she called us.
Tips shares a pasture with his instant friend, Mr. B. The two old geldings must be sharing stories about the "good old days."
I thought that by taking him in, we'd be doing them a favor, but it turns out that Tips is a favor to us.
He likes us very much and wants to be ridden. He's as spry as a yearling, yet gentle and kind.

Spring Things

On her pictorial tour of Providence Farm this morning, Katie found beautiful peach blossoms.
Two animals are sleeping on two different round things. The goatling is on her throne, which is a garbage can lid. The horse is in the center of her favorite stuff- hay.
The lambs still have their tails at this time of the day.
Later, however, they got their tetanus shots and lost their little tails.
This was our first tail docking experience. Q-Tip got lucky last year because I had a pinched nerve in my neck and couldn't do much of anything when her tail was due for docking.

Scenes from a Spring Day

Ha. Our very own blossoms. Take that, Sunny California!
See the goats in the background? I need to get them penned up before our pretty apple blossoms are no more.



These pretty little purple flowers tempted me to lie down and take a photo that included them.

And when you lie down in the yard on Providence Farm, you attract friendly, curious animals...

and more animals.

Another Good Picture

Becky's horse photo.

Girls, Good Weather, and Horses

We had an impromptu play date with a friend who also happens to be an accomplished horsewoman.

Becky had been working with the Big Mare over jumps, and Sibylle took the reins to show us how it's done.

Wild Pony Round-Up

I couldn't decide which pictures of mother and daughter were best, so I threw them all on here.
The picture of Becky working with them in the yard has special signifigance. This will be the last time Little Blue's exotic beauty will be featured on the blog. Little Blue left this morning with his new owner to enjoy a nice home in the country.
No, really, I didn't sell him for scrap, a guy bought him for farm use.

Horsin' Around

Today we rode a little before the rains moved in.
Libby and I had a few races with baby JoJo. We won them all.
It looks cold and raw in the pictures, but it's actually 48 degrees.

Blah

Here's a view of all sorts of animals on Providence Farm. Like the humans, they're just sitting or standing around.
Waiting.
We're all waiting for spring!
The days are often gray this winter. It seems like we're perpetually in some part of the cycle of: getting ready for a storm, watching a storm, cleaning up after a storm, repeat.
I have a copy of the garden catalog. You would think that would cheer me along. But when I see it, I think of how hard and hot the work will be, weeding and harvesting and canning in August.
Is winter the dues we agrarians pay for being the ones who get to feel so fully the joy of a newborn goat, or the smell of grass growing in spring, or the satisfaction of beef and milk and eggs and garden vegetables all coming to fruition after a long season of dormancy?

The Horse Whisperer

Mini Hidalgo

We just watched Hidalgo, which is a movie about a paint horse. Today, I happened to be playing soccer with a paint horse in miniature form. So now, I am posting some photos for very special children of all ages who happen to own their very own, very small, paint horse.
We had a storm come through with plenty of wind, but not much rain. It stirred up this pre-teen pony girl and made her gallop. But she was far away so the picture's not so great.
Then she stopped close to Laura who snapped the closer picture. If you enlarge it, you can see her kissable pony lips and her delicate pony ears. Do you just want to eat her up? Oh, no, you're not French, I forgot.

Awesome Autumn

While I napped after my early morning excurson into Richmond, Katie took a pictures of their Jack-O-Lanterns. I'll try to also show them in their glory, at night.
The happy herd of horses is in the still verdant field.

Laura's Pal

Mr. B was in a feisty mood the other morning. The dogs were chasing the mares in the field while he was having his breakfast in the yard. But suddenly, he forgot all about his grain and went for a wild rumpus around the yard! We have loads of video, but it takes too long to upload. I thought this still photo, taken by Katie, was pretty impressive.
For my friends on FB, this is before his ankle injury.
Laura and Mr. B have a close relationship. He can't be ridden due to his EPM, a disease that attacks the nerves, but that works out perfectly for Laura, who loves horses but not riding.

Wild Pony Round-Up

This is for people who like to imagine themselves the owner of a farm full of fun livestock bought cheaply from Craigslist.

I realize it's not a good video, but the video I took while galloping got erased and this was the only evidence left on the camera of today's wild rumpus in the field.

Little JoJo absolutely loves when people ride. She frolicks and rears alongside the big horse, wishing (I think) that she could be ridden around the big field.

Horse Play

There were lots of videos and photos on the camera when the kids came in with it last night, but it was dark so early that they weren't very good.

Here's a little sample of the neighborhood having a great time in the new pen with horses.

All the children and all the horses ended up being involved in riding. It's interesting how having a secure pen can give all the kiddos confidence to ride. That was a good investment!

Fun Toy

Are you excited yet?
This is for two children who will get to ride their very own pony for the first time in not too long from now.
We're getting very excited about the big adventure.
I wish I had had a really cool pony saddle with barbed wire decoration on the suede.

All the Pretty Ponies

Just pictures of ponies for your viewing pleasure.