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.

This is the calendar I'm ordering for 2010. You should get one too. Two adorable BLM burros are showcased throughout. I've always wanted a burro, but George and Alan have made me realize I can't possibly just have one. And I can't have any right now anyway, so this beautiful calendar of George and Alan will have to do.

In other news, Huckleberry is at the vet recovering from his neutering. Poor pup. I'll go pick him up this afternoon.

Today is a rainy, nasty day, but I did manage to play with the tractor some earlier. I pushed all the leaves that the boys raked yesterday into a huge pile.

Not much horse work done, other than getting after Scout for thinking he's king of the hill. Butthead thinks he can pin his ears at me when I feed. I think I'm going to have to get serious about putting a stop to that. I still haven't started working with him daily.

Anchor is sad and lonely, he kept calling when I was out and about. I'll go play with him here in a minute, but maybe not for long if it's raining too hard. Yesterday I loved on him, worked on his feet (he's not progressing there, just stays the same) and then stuck my fingers in both sides of his mouth. Today I think I'll squirt some applesauce in there with a syringe and see what he thinks.

Blah. It's a very blah day.

Tomorrow I head up to hang out with my sister in the Chemo Suite. One of these days I'd like to write about that. It's quite an experience. So many people, all with different cancers. So many beautiful, bald women, with hats and handkerchiefs, wigs, or even going au natural. Somehow the men seem to lose their hair less. Different chemo I guess. People from all walks of life. Some are hopeful and bright, looking forward to their cure, some are barely hanging in there, not doing so well. My sister said last week, "You don't have to look far to find someone worse off than you. Especially here." It's sobering and sad but also surprisingly somewhat uplifting, seeing the love of a wife for her husband having chemo, or the courage of every person there. Lots of people sit and visit with their neighbors, or you can watch TV with headphones. Some sleep, or just zone out. A common thing to hear there is, "So, what's your cancer?" which leads to stories. Stories that make me wonder at how strong a person can be. Pretty amazing.

Scout is a baaaad baby! Here I've been thinking how sweet he is, and it turns out that's just because I haven't been asking him to do anything. He had his hooves trimmed today and he was a HUGE pain in the butt. I've got my work cut out for me... I'm going to start tying him for long periods and he's got to learn to behave better with his feet and quit being so pushy in general on the ground. Probably not a lot of work involved, but handling him every day would be a good starting point. Although right now I'm frozen, I smell like a horse turd, and the idea of working with a horse isn't very appealing.

Tonka wasn't extremely well-behaved either. How embarassing. He tends to test me a lot, I just expect it, get it over with, and go on. So I guess it makes sense that he'd test a new person trimming him. He learned not to do that. Hopefully he remembers and we don't have to go over it again later.

John made Coda's appointment for tomorrow. We decided to take him to WSU to have him euthanized. I realized the only reason I was thinking about burying him here was for the kids, and I don't think it will really matter all that much in the grand scheme of their lives. The longer Coda has to stay in this cold the more miserable he is, and getting a backhoe or excavator just wasn't happening right away. I am so glad John is taking him in for me. I can't hardly stand the idea of it. If it was at home I think I would have been able to handle it, but not at WSU.

Boy, now that the appointment is made it's really getting to me. This is real, and it sucks.

I think I'll go take a hot bath, get warmed up and wash off the horse stink.

Before I got that happy call from my vet I went out and spent time with Bella and Scout. They've been kind of neglected lately. Bella was doing that "if I don't look at you, you don't exist" thing again. Scout was getting kinda big for his britches, trying to come in with his ears pinned at feeding time. They were both angels today. Bella did a little groundwork and then got groomed and had her hooves trimmed. Scout just got taken out for a good grooming session. They both worried about each other while the other was gone. They were also both very muddy. I renamed them Clumpy Mud Mama and Clumpy Jr. Oh, and I measured Bella. She's 14.2 hands. Which is a bit short, especially since she's not real stout. Hopefully she'll grow some more, she still has time. Maybe.
Below is Tonka's abscess. Not that gross, really. The raw part is the size of a quarter, and the swollen part is about the size of a ping pong ball. I asked the vet if I had to do the antibiotics, because they make me nervous, and he kind of got irritated with me. Not that he showed it, really, but there was a long pause there... He basically said I had to if I didn't want my horse to have to have surgery eventually. Good news is we're keeping him on the mild antibiotics for the first two weeks, and hopefully we won't have to use the "big guns."
See Tonka's bad haircut on his forelock there? He got a cockle-burr in his forelock that got stuck in his ear and he must have rubbed it and felted it in there. Nothing I could do but cut it out.
This here picture is just plain weird. Looks like a two headed horse with one head attached backward, with the ears at the shoulder. Actually it's Tonka making a face and Scout looking at him. Tonka was so glad to be free. He ran and bucked for about 10 minutes, but of course he waited until after I had gone inside.

So I guess Tonka's problem isn't a fungus, but it acts like one or something like that. It's a bacteria called actinomyces. The vet wasn't at all worried about it being contagious. I don't know if it's from the same thing as it was a couple years ago, or if this was a new piece of cheat grass or splinter.

John asked me to hitch up the trailer for him today so he could practice loading Cisco before they go to their lesson on Wednesday. He's showing a serious interest in working with his horse! I love this! Cisco was a good boy. He is worried about the trailer, but he loaded well many times. The only time there was a problem was when I hooked his lead through the Blocker tie ring. He just backed right on out of the trailer when I turned to leave him there. So then I hard tied a rope and John loaded him and snapped it on his halter and shut him in the divider. He did some serious leaning trying to back up, but it helped when we stood and petted him, me at his head outside and John rubbing his back inside. I think he's afraid of being alone in there.

I have a head cold and I'm alternating between feeling pretty good and staying busy, then feeling awful and wanting to crawl in bed. I think I better get Tonka's compresses and medication done early so I'm not exhausted and feeling sorry for myself later. Have a good night!

I just thought I'd check in and let everyone know that nothing has changed here. It's all become so boring and regular, and I haven't got much to write about.

The weather has been awful and the ground is so saturated that the horse areas are muddy even in places where the ground usually stays fairly solid. I'm glad that they at least have their dry stalls to go into. I cleaned the stalls today and had fun hanging out with the horses. Cisco and Bella don't like each other, they make seriously nasty faces at each other over the panels. He's nice to Scout though. Scout got a hold of my broom at one point and was flailing it around and Cisco really wanted to play too, it was cute. Later I left it where Cisco could get to it and he pulled the top off of the handle trying to pull it through to his side. I think I may have some great entertainment someday when all the boys are pastured together. I might have to get them some toys.

Tonka wasn't as accomodating about having his warm compress done tonight. He was just a little fidgety. It seemed like it might not be draining as nicely either. I might have to really work at the scab with a scrubby rag tomorrow. Ouch. I keep complaining about having to do all this but tonight I realized I should be glad I'm not him. All alone except for two visits a day that include doctoring that is probably at least a little unpleasant. And the abscess probably hurts all the time. Poor guy.

Sorry I don't have anything more interesting to write about. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to get something done with a horse or two so I'll have something to tell you about.

Reflection of an alder.

The Deep Creek Project. I've decided to finally start using the labels option on my blog and my first one will be for this project. So if you want to follow the progress over time, you can hopefully do that somehow. There should be a place to click certain labels on the sidebar so you can see what you're interested in. Eventually I'll go back and do that for the older entries as well, so you can see all about Tonka, or my cats, or whatever.

PCEI is doing the work. Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute, that is. It's partially funded by some other groups. If you want more info on that you can check out their site.

The basics - they're sloping and stabilizing the banks along our section of creek to control erosion, planting trees to provide shade, and well, that's about it... It's supposed to help water quality, especially important because our creek joins the Palouse river just about a mile or less downstream. Oh, and they also created a few small wetland areas. Two are at the end of drainage ditches. This'll help filter any contaminants out before the water flows into the creek.

So, what can a girl do with 7 buckets, a 50 gallon barrel, and a truck? Break her back! No, just kidding, I only watered some trees. The ones we first planted needed some attention.
Unfortunately I forgot I can't dip a 5 gallon bucket into the barrel. Doesn't fit. So I had to fill buckets by dipping in a couple small coffee cans. Fun... I think I'm really going to beg John to get a 275 gallon water tank I can attach a hose to.

After I was done I played around in the creek to get some pictures for you. Here are some deer prints, a coyote print, and maybe some racoon prints? Or who knows, maybe the beaver. I'm not an expert tracker.

Eww, somebody lost their ear! Just kidding, it's a shell. We have clams down there too, but I didn't see any shells. I think my neice gathered them all up.

Here's a beautiful bit of architecture. I suspect this is where my son's really, really bad sting came from. It swelled up like a baseball and the whole area was a big purple bruise for weeks. It's a pretty nest though. I don't know if we should try to get rid of it or not...

This is one of the "wetlands" or "swales." Not sure which to call it. It'll catch water that flows down through our front pasture. Actually the horses only have contact with about 100 feet of the ditch, so the water shouldn't be too gross.

A stalker's view of my house, taken by John from the other side of the creek.

Here's Scout wondering what I'm doing way out there. He's a cutie.
Here's what I was doing, besides taking pictures. Had to pick up my temporary fencing and the trough that was out there. I think next time I water trees I'll use the trough to carry my water. Easier to dip buckets into. Good old Thor, I love that truck:

Now I'm going to go take a bunch of ibuprophen, get a dose of coffee, and get into my painting clothes. We've made almost zero progress in the last week.