Mikey posted a video challenge - post what we're doing at 9, noon, and 3:00. Here's my shot at it. Not extremely exciting, I must say.

Headed to the doctor:


My ear's been hurting for at least a couple months now. It got a lot worse yesterday. Turns out I have an ear infection in both ears. I'm an adult, I shouldn't get ear infections. Explains why I've been dizzy and nauseous on and off.

Noon and 3:00 were actually taken at the wrong times, but close enough...

Heading east:

Visiting the lambs. They're getting big.

My sidekick, whose eyes totally remind me of the squirrel who lost his nut in the Ice Age movies.

Do you see it? (Click to enlarge.) I think John thinks I'm crazy. Or maybe he's just not as interested in every little detail about this dog as I am.

You can also see the tiny bit of snow that's left and the hopeful toboggan waiting next to it. Not much room for sledding there.

My handsome Huck, on the alert:

So, that was my day. I had hoped to dig some post holes and spend some time with Scout, but now it's just about dark, I don't feel too good (although the doc did say I should feel better in about 12 hours), and it's really icky out. I might just curl up in bed for a while and read a good book. Until it's time to make dinner, anyway.

I need me one of these real bad.The sweetness! The serenity. She's like a big hairy therapy session. I love Peaches the donkey.

And I love her soft nose.

And I love her ears too.

I love her ears a lot.

She's just special.

After I tore myself away from Peaches, I came home and got ready for Kinderpuppy. It went really well. Puppy Playtime was a blast! The pug was very, very obnoxious outgoing. Seriously though, he was soooo cute and funny and proud of himself. The rest of the dogs were a mix of playful and cautious. Huckleberry headed over to the people next to us and seemed more interested in meeting people overall, but eventually got over it and went around sniffing butts. Puppy butts, that is.

This week's homework is again Watch and Sit, but also Down and Come. Huck made awesome progress on his Down earlier today. I didn't have to lure him into position, he was getting it on a hand gesture and verbal cue. He's also starting to Stay, but we need to work on it more with distraction and distance. For Huck specifically, but not the whole class, he needs to learn not to nibble on people he's greeting. He doesn't do it to me so I'll have to set up sessions with other people to get it through to him.

Since this is, after all, supposed to be about mustangs, I'll tell you the only thing I really have today. They get bored easily. Then they start breaking out occasionally. So you really ought not to keep them locked up. Or so they tell me. I've got my pasture fence all charged again and I've been gradually re-introducing them to grass. I'm not sure what to do with Cisco. He's so fat. I think I'll put him out in a separate pasture, because he needs the exercise, but I'm not sure if what little grass is there will negate the goodness of the exercise.

Speaking of escaping. They've gotten out twice by pushing on two different gates until the hardware shifts and the gate magically opens. I'm not sure if they knew what they had done the first time, but the second time they had a good inkling, because they did it again. Only this time the gate was chained so HA! Anyway, I think I found a job for Huck. Cisco was rattling the gate as I mixed vitamins, and I got after him. The next two times Huck got after him for me! I told him good boy. All he did was bark. That would be a good job for him, keeping the stock off the gates.

Oh, and my saddle is beautiful! I got it mostly done, and no white residue in the tooling. The Obenauf's is way better than the Saddle Butter I've used in the past. Or maybe I just followed directions better... But it buffed to the prettiest shine, and my saddle is a richer color now. I'll post before and after pics when I get a good after pic.

Too many irons in the fire!

Friday I stripped my horse trailer so that John could use it to haul some furniture. The mats are out waiting to be scrubbed. The boards are bare and ready to be scrubbed as well. I think I will also paint them, or at least the part that is under the horses' hineys. I wish I could scrub and paint the whole trailer, but that will have to wait for another year.

As you can see in the picture below, I also need to paint the walls in my bedroom. I painted test patches and never got around to actually painting the room. That color is too dark so I still need to come up with a good color. Blech. I hate painting.

When I emptied the trailer I brought my saddle in to get ready to clean and treat it. This is the one I bought this summer, the one that I searched for years to find, the one that fits my horse. Unfortunately it has some tooling on it, some of it is rather deep. (I admit it's kinda pretty and you don't see work like this often, but tooling is a pain.)

So my question for you is this: how do you put a waterproofing treatment, such as Obenauf's LP on the tooling without leaving white residue? Or can it not be done?

I was thinking I'd heat it up first, use a hair dryer to keep it liquid, work it into the cracks with a toothbrush and then remove the excess first with a bit of towel and then with Qtips. I don't know if that will work?

Here's my saddle all clean and ready for the next step. I'll have to get it done soon because I don't want to ride again and get it dirty and have to clean it again.

Looking at the saddle reminds me, I have another question for you. Have any of you ever tried a sheepskin seat cover? This saddle is very uncomfortable for me. I don't want an ugly tush cushion. But I don't know if I want to invest in expensive sheepskin if it isn't going to help. I also wonder if the underside will rub my saddle in bad ways.

Tomorrow and possibly Tuesday I'll be helping John move store furniture and I'll be helping out on my friend's farm all week. I have a fencing project I have to get done, but happily I got most of that done today. Just have to reconnect some things and plug the charger in. Need to set up water and trough heaters and rearrange horses. Scoop poop and all that everyday stuff. Then there will be the barn to deal with. That's going to take months to clean up. Life sure isn't dull around here. Don't have to look far to find something to do. One of these days I'll actually ride my horse.

Here's what we did today!

Check your volume.
Some of you might not like the music
but it is oh so appropriate.

Mornin' TonkaMornin' Scout

Mornin' Cisco

Mornin' Soxy

Afternoon Butt

Evenin' Snow

Friday the 13th has yet again passed with no major crisis in my world. Although for a minute there I thought the police department was calling me to tell me my husband had gotten in a bad wreck pulling the trailer in the snow. But it was a wrong number. I am thankful for the safety of my family on this snowy night.

I hope you all had a wonderful day!

"All the horses are out!"

I didn't like hearing that. We've had escapes before but never on a grand scale.

Turned out to be a non-event. Soxy hadn't escaped, just the boys. The worst of the damage went to Tonka, who had burrs stuck under his jaw. Nobody got into the grain, nobody went anywhere. Tonka and Cisco were just grazing right around the gate, and Scout was in the hay storage area. What a bunch of wild mustangs. I think they must not have been out long. They had pushed the gate until the latch moved and came loose. Buttheads. I fixed the latch and chained it. And they got their breakfast early. Maybe that was the plan all along. "Let's get their attention so they have to come out and feed us."

Chinks

I love the flip of the fringe as I walk along. It's like being a little girl with a twirly dress again. Today I am thankful for my sister. She gave me this pair of chinks yesterday. They were her husband's but he had some custom made, and they didn't fit her right. As you can see they're pretty much brand new. This isn't why I'm thankful for her, but it sure is generous. I'm sure I've written about her enough here for you to all know why I'm thankful for my sister.

Scout went on his first outing as a big boy. The last time he left the farm was way back when he was about a month old, to have his eye checked at the WSU hospital. The last time I loaded him in the trailer wasn't too long ago, maybe two months. Today he just walked right in next to me like we were walking down the road. I asked him to step into the front of the trailer, hooked him to a Blocker ring, and then shut him in. Next I put his best buddy Tonka in the trailer, and we were on our way.


We went to my sister's to do some groundwork. Really I wasn't as interested in doing groundwork as I was wanting to get this first trip under our belt. He unloaded pretty nicely, with some hesitation backing out. I don't allow them to turn around to unload until they're a pro at backing out, and even then it's a special occasion sort of thing to unload that way. When I was first teaching him to load, it was the unloading part that was hardest for him.


He was an absolute gem the entire time we were there! He is going to be such a wonderful horse to ride. He doesn't go out of his way to find boogeymen like Tonka does. I pushed a tarp under the round pen so he could check it out. It bumped his hind leg and he didn't even look at it. Tonka spooks at that tarp every time we go over there.


He got to visit with his mama over the fence and then after Amy and I played with our horses some, she worked Scout and Camria in the round pen at the same time. It was interesting to watch. It stressed Camria out. But not terribly. She was just a little confused, and Scout was as usual a little lazy so when my sister got after him Camria wasn't sure she wasn't in trouble too.

After Tonka and I did some respect work (he's been a jerk lately) I tried my hand at working two horses at once. It was fun! Neat to get them both hooked on, one on either side, and wander around. I couldn't get Tonka to stay in the center with me while Scout circled us, but Scout easily figured out how to pivot with me while Tonka worked around us. Tonka could have figured it out if I'd given it more time and effort, but I was getting cold.

Spending time tied - Tonka, Scout, and Camria:
(I keep having to backspace when I start typing the name Bella)

I got some good pictures of the dogs over there today. They are weird. They sure have a lot of fun playing together though.

Here's Oreo, Huck, and Bella. Their expressions are priceless. I feel like it needs a caption but I have no idea what it would be.

This is how Bella greets me almost every time I go over there. If I'm not quick about telling her no, I get muddy paw prints. She also likes to stand up sometimes to get a better view of her surroundings, like an otter or a bear.

The Fearsome Foursome. Oreo, Bella, Huck, and Bear.

Oreo is sweet in a timid, chubby sort of way. He never could have been a cowdog. Bella is a big happy dumb puppy. I'm sure you know the type. Bear has a depth to him. He is an extremely intelligent dog (Kelpie X Border Collie). Very caring, but if you don't know him he's just weird. He obsesses over sticks, rocks, and dirt clods. To him, strangers are for throwing things. Family is for poking sharply in the butt or the back of the knee (I don't know which is more shocking) with his pointy nose and pinching their tender parts with his teeth. The back of your arm just near your armpit is a favorite spot. I don't think I've ever known another dog with a sense of humor like his. He's a cuddler too, when he's inside. Huck... Well, I'll get back to you on who he is. He's not old enough yet. He's intense and smart and devoted but still kind of independent. Soft and cuddly with a wiggle-butt to make up for his lack of a tail.

My silly silly boy got his glasses today. He loves them. I love them. I hope reading becomes more fun for him now. He's a hard worker, and he does well, but I'd love to see it come more easily for him.

I thought I'd come back and write more today, since last night I was in a hurry. Kinderpuppy was really fun last night. There were so many cute puppies! A mastiff/Great Pyr cross (talk about drool), three German Shepherds, three lab and lab crosses, a pug, a teeny weenie Yorkie, and a choodle, which is apparently a chihuahua poodle but looks like a biggish blond Yorkie. They were all super cute.

One thing I wasn't expecting is that she asked everyone why they were there. I'm there because I want a well behaved dog, I thought that was self-evident. But I thought about it and came up with a more specific answer. Because I think this dog is going to be more challenging than any other dog I've had. Not because he's bad, but because he's so darn smart! And I want a well behaved dog. I'd love to have one of those nice quiet dogs that heels and sits under your feet and doesn't pester people or pull on the leash. It would be cool to go even farther with it, but we'll see what I have time for.

Another reason I was able to come up with, although it's more of a question that has come up than the reason I'm there, is that he is weird with strangers. He loves some people, and others he barks at in a rather alarming way. Seems like he likes the people who ignore him at first. She suggested practicing weird behavior and postures at home, so he gets over his worry about how strangers introduce themselves. John immediately rose to the occasion with that one, he's a pro at weird.

Our homework for the week is to practice "sit" (he knows that one), get them responding eagerly to their name, and practice "watch." With that one you take a treat, say "watch," and bring the treat up to your eyes. When you get eye contact you say "good watch!" and give them the treat. The name thing and the watch thing are both so you can get your dog's attention quickly in a distracting situation.

At the end we were supposed to have puppy play time, which I was really looking forward to, but we took too long so had to skip it. I can't wait to see how all the puppies interact! The poor little yorkie. Her owner will have to watch that she doesn't get smooshed.

Going through old photos I found this:

It's amazing how much the barn has gone downhill in just 5 years. I've been told by the neighbors that some idiot took out key parts of the structure inside before we moved here. I don't know why. Unless it was to make more open areas inside?

Here's a good illustration of why I was taking apart the fence yesterday. John is planning on pulling the barn down from that front corner there, and there's a decent chance it could fall all the way across the driveway. (The guys are so excited about this. My sister keeps calling every day and asking if we can do it today. Her husband is like a kid about it!)
Just for fun, here's my boy 5 years ago, in a post hole. Good times.

Oh, and back to that older barn photo, my husband is insane. I wonder how much that post weighs. I might be able to drag it with a rope around it, or roll it. How the heck did he even pick it up?

Today I am thankful for my husband. I can't even tell you all the reasons why. For his tremendous and unfailing support and his ability to think clearly on subjects I'm emotional about (horse stuff). Sometimes I really need a naysayer. Sometimes he surprises me by encouraging me to do things that make no sense, like taking on a horse to train at our own expense. I am grateful for his patience with the the kids, and how fun he is as a dad. And for all of the comic relief. He's a goofball. I think that's what I like best about him.

I got a lot done today, but it was all tearing down. Got the fence taken down in case the barn falls on it when we pull it down. Also made a bunch of phone calls.

My daughter and I took Huck to his first Kinderpuppy class. It was fun, there were lots of cute pups there. He is one of the oldest. I'm not sure how they got all their shots done that fast. Maybe their vets have a different schedule for shots.

I better go before John shoots me. He's waiting for me to watch a show with him. Good night!

Today I am thankful for my physical ability to work. And for my tractor, for those jobs I'm not physically able to do, like pulling enormous fence posts out of the ground.

Sentimental Saturday on Monday. I'm growing up to be one of those people who is often late. I just wasn't feeling very sentimental over the weekend.

Today I was reorganizing some stuff and I came across Tonka's tag that he wore in the BLM corrals. It came off just before he loaded into the trailer to come home to me.
Someday I will make some sort of shadowbox frame to display his stuff in, but for now it stays in a file.

That made me nostalgic, and I had to go back and read my post about Tonka's adoption. Reading it brought tears to my eyes again. I love my horse. If you read it you'll see I write about Tracey and her darling daughter, and about Anchor, but with much less knowledge of them than I have now. They didn't have names then. Well, I'm sure Tracey and Darling did, but I didn't know them yet. :)

Also while transferring my files from a tiny file box to the bigger file cabinet I got today, I found this:

My baby boy's wrist was so tiny! The weird thing is, this comes after an afternoon of watching old videos of my adorable kids, and my sister telling me today that I have to have another kid since she can't. I know that's crazy talk, but they're so wonderful when they're little. I wish they didn't have to grow up. Not that I don't think they're wonderful now, and I'm sure they'll be wonderful as adults but in different ways. But they're so snuggly and sweet and hilarious when they're little. It would be a bad idea to have another, but apparently I need a toddler fix. Della? May I borrow yours? I know, he says, "My is a CHILD," but I think he's jumping the gun a bit.

Lea suggested that we all post something we're thankful for, every day between now and Thanksgiving. Today I am thankful that I have such sweet children.

I hope you all had a wonderful Monday!

Today was an awful long day. It rained all day, and I barely went outside at all. I should have made myself go out and work, a little wet never hurt anyone. But I had my usual Sunday disease - laziness and a disgruntlement caused by doing nothing and being bored. We had planned on doing a bunch of work around the barn, and John did, but I didn't. I visited with my parents instead and after they left I sat around complaining that there was nothing to do.

Then I made scones. I've never made them but I had one that I really liked a while back, and decided one of these days I'd try making some. I made Irish soda bread scones because of their simplicity and the fact that I had buttermilk left over from a recipe last week. They were okay with lots of jelly and butter, but really not worth making again. Next time I'll try something with some butter in the recipe.

I thought the pooches were especially cute tonight. And they kind of spelled "Om." Huck is able to get on the couch now, which is something that makes him very happy. Guess we're going to have to buy another couch for the humans, and maybe a bigger house while we're at it. :)

This next bunch of long-nosed shots must be a product of the camera lens. They don't quite look like themselves.

Angus:

Huckleberry:

India:

The horses, they were wet. I didn't do anything but feed them. This blog is going to get pretty boring over the winter, I fear. Either that or I'll have to get out of this horse slump and actually start doing things with them again.

Sentimental Saturday is going to have to wait until Sunday this week. It's been a full day!

We went to Chuck E. Cheese's today to celebrate good report cards. I think that place should be called "Gamblers in Training." But the kids had lots of fun.

Spent the afternoon with my parents, running around Manito park and watching World's Strictest Parents. Or whatever that show's called.

The kids stayed up in Spokane, so John and I have the evening to ourselves. And what are we doing? Sitting in separate rooms on the computer. Going to watch a movie here in a minute though. We're pretty exciting, we are.

I got Tonka a new probiotic today. Probios isn't doing the trick, so I bought the Equerry's probiotic. I like their products, and they're really nice people, so I chose it over the other stuff at the feed store. Tonka has liquid around his poo in the winter when he's on hay, so I'm hoping this will help. Hate to see him with poo water on his hiney. Not that it's really bad, but I'd rather see things looking normal. If this doesn't work I might try U Gard in case it's more of an ulcer type of a problem. He does tend to be a nervous sort. Funny, now that I'm thinking about it, he's a lot crankier in the winter too. If the hay isn't sitting well in his belly that would make sense.

My pup is still the cutest thing on four legs, but he's getting big. He wishes he was big enough to get on the bed. India, our grumpy old girl, is really glad he isn't big enough. It's her one refuge. (He can have a bath soon, had to wait 14 days after his surgery. I can't wait, he's icky.)

Oh, and to get back to horsey stuff, I made a rhythm bead necklace. I was thinking Katia and I can make those over the winter to sell at Mustang Days, or online, or whatever. This was just a practice run. I have nicer beads to try once my nicer bells get here in the mail.
One last thing. An acquaintance of mine had her horses get loose and get into some barley, and now her 7 year old mare is foundering. Send her healing thoughts or send up a prayer, whatever you feel comfortable doing. What an awful thing to have happen.

Good things are happening this morning. My laundry is going! John fixed the dryer. We still need a new one but this one will get me through until Sears can get in the one we want in gas. I will have clean towels! I will also be slaving away in the laundry room most of the day. But I'll be making my kid help some too. It's nice to have slave labor.

I also found my driver's license and credit card that I lost a week ago. They were in the pocket of my jeans, buried in that mountain of laundry that's been piling up. Yay! I'm legal again! And I don't have to have my sugar daddy with me to buy groceries.

So, what do you all do for entertainment on these short winter days? I've been bored out of my mind in the evenings. I scooped poop in the dark last night, but that didn't take long. I've been making a few things out of rope, but sometimes I don't feel like doing that. We don't have TV. We have a TV, so we can watch DVDs and stuff, but no network, no dish. Don't really want it either. Netflix is great. We watched Ghostbusters on the computer the other day, with their instant play option. The kids loved it. (Weird how much more puritanical we are now than we were in the 80's. Goonies is a good example of that too.) So, any suggestions for fun family indoor activities? Games you like? (We have a 7 year old and a 13 year old).

Today is going to be an inside day. The wind is blowing like crazy. It's one of those days where you know if you don't throw hay in the right place it'll just blow away. So no horsey fun. Although maybe I could clean up my feed area. I've been needing to do that for a while.

The kids have the day off so it almost seems criminal not to do something fun. I just can't think of anything though... Maybe I'll take them to the mall. For some reason my daughter loves the mall. And my son loves ice cream. And I love Starbucks.

Well, thanks for listening to my ramblings! And seriously, I'd love suggestions on crafts, games, anything to do to keep the boredom at bay.

I got the most awesome package in the mail today! Thank you so much to Gtyyup, who had a giveaway for her one year blogiversary, and I won! I love all of the things in this wonderful cowgirl care package. She obviously put a lot of thought into putting together such a great prize. The wonderful cowboy and cowgirl coffee cups will fit right in with my collection. A sweet iron hoofpick with a western rider and snaffle bit in silver (also right up my alley!), a cool horse head bottle opener/keychain, a western arena exercise book (I can totally use that this winter), a pink jelly groomer thingie, and a tote to put it all in. I love them all!

I apologise for my lousy picture taking. I'm feeling a little under the weather and I'm exhausted! So I did my best, which apparently isn't very good tonight.

Anchor went home tonight. He didn't load as nicely as I would have liked, but he wasn't too bad. He thought he'd just plain refuse after a while, so he got to do some work and he showed his rodeo side which I haven't had to deal with for a while now. I've never worked him as hard and fast as I did today, but I don't think I was being unfair. In the end he wouldn't take the step with me just asking, so John waved a rope behind his butt and in he went. They have a really nice big stock trailer with an escape door in the front, so I wasn't too afraid to be in front of him coaxing him in. I will add that to my list of must-haves for when I someday buy a trailer of my very own. But I want a tack room too, with space in the gooseneck area for a bed, so it can't be just a stock trailer.

I was sad to see him go, but also hopeful. I would love to hear that he's under saddle in the mountains next year.

In other news, my son needs glasses and is very excited to get them next week. My dryer is broken. I wish I could afford a few riding lessons. Coda's final vet bill came in the mail today. My puppy is all healed from his neutering. Tonka needs an attitude adjustment. The whole family is sick. My sister is miserable from her big chemo on Tuesday. Someone in my family always gets at least mildly sick after her big chemo so can't go help her out. I don't like it. Luckily her husband and my mom are there to help out.

I'm mostly just whining now, aren't I? I think I better go to bed early.

Soxy is fine! He didn't even have to sedate her. He did all the things I had done, but I hadn't been able to see a thing. A more experienced set of hands (and an assistant, which I don't have) are absolutely worth the exam fee. I feel much better now. And I enjoyed visiting with my vet, which I haven't done since the spring.

In other news, I was able to trim Anchor's front feet today. First with the help of the rope, then without. He sometimes would regress back to needing the rope to get his foot up, but then he'd hold it up pretty nicely for me. He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Check out these monster bars and ultra long heels:

I just couldn't nip some of that hoof one-handed, so I tried and was able to put his hoof behind my knee in my modified farrier hold. I don't actually clamp down with both legs like a farrier does, I just gently hold their hoof in the crook of my knee and they have to cooperate by leaving it there. He was a good boy, mostly. Sometimes on his bad side he'd try to scoot backward, which is awkward when I have my knee behind his foot. Had to get out of the way pretty quick, which kind of scared him.

But anyway, he's trimmed.

You can see where I sawed off a bit too much toe at 10:00 there. That was back when I took his toes off. It's an ugly mistake but it'll grow back.

Here's another before shot, but on the other hoof. I didn't get an after on that one. It looks much like the other, but without the too-short toe quarter. This frog had a rotten layer that needed to come off. Smelly.

I didn't have time to practice trailer loading with him, but if I get up early enough I can do that in the morning.

I finally got his feet! It took a couple hours, but with a long cotton rope and a LOT of patience, I eventually was able to pick out Anchor's front feet. One had a folded over broken bar that was poking his frog and I was able to get that off. I may be able to trim him later. I'm also going to work on trailer loading later. He goes home tomorrow afternoon.

Soxy goes to the vet later today. We were going to go this morning but they had an emergency come up. She seems pretty comfortable so our problem isn't really an emergency. I'll update on that later. Cross your fingers for me that she doesn't require an expensive extraction! I really think it's probably not going to be a big deal. It seems like it's got to be something minor since she's able to eat pretty well.

Yesterday was a good horse day. Well, it started out that way.

Scout got to stand tied while I groomed him and played with his feet, then I left him alone for quite a while. I thought he'd fidget a lot but he didn't. He just stood kind of sideways with his butt dangerously close to the electric fence.

I brushed his mane and forelock. I think it's the first time I've ever done that, other than just some spot work on tangles. His mane is very long and thick, and it's lost that puffy punky pony look but it's still not as sleek as his mama's.

He has his mama's mustache though! It's not as long and impressive as hers, but then he's still just a baby.

Huckleberry, my good little sidekick. He's getting so big. He starts Kinderpuppy classes next week. I figure with a dog this smart I better do this right.

Then I got Tonka out, and it was one of those days.

He says, "I feel much better now!"

Look at this sweet face. He's so cute and innocent.
Or not.

I tried something yesterday, and I thought I was being careful and smart. Last time Soxy got beat up she was in with both geldings, and I thought maybe they were both trying to claim her. I had her in with Tonka and Scout for a few days recently and it was fine. It would make more sense for Soxy and Cisco to be together because they're both fat. So I tried it. I put them together yesterday morning and watched them all day. Not a problem in sight.

Last night when I stepped out to feed though, it was a different story. There were thundering hooves. In the moonlight I could see him latched onto her neck, she was running as well as she could with him hanging on to her, trying to kick him. One of them was squealing but I'm not sure which. All this time I'm running. She got away from him but he kept at her and was kicking her. It was awful. I had to get in there and smack him with a whip until he moved off, then I had to continue to hold him off because he kept trying to come back. I finally got her out of there and we did some walking to cool her down. When she dropped her head to graze there was a squeaky sound. So I think there is probably a broken molar. She had a slightly bloody nose but her front teeth are okay.

So now I'm trying to get a hold of the equine dentist, but she's not answering, and the other vet isn't sure he can do much besides look at her and see how bad it is. Sounds like if it's a real bad break we'll have to get it extracted at WSU.

Sometimes I wish I didn't have to muddle through life learning from my stupid mistakes. But really I thought they were okay with each other after such a peaceful day. From here on out I'm not going to put Cisco with any mares, period. He and Bella really went at it too.

Today I asked him, "Would you care to take a walk with me?"

He wasn't real sure he wanted to."Are we okay? Are you sure this is safe?"

"Mmmm. This is the best time I've had in years."

It looks like he'll be leaving me this week. I didn't meet all my goals with him, but I think he'll get there eventually. He's pretty stubborn about picking up his feet, but if he can get out of the mud I think now he's halter broke enough that you could rope his feet and not have him freak out and get tangled up. By roping his feet I mean this, not some barbaric and rough practice.