Scout is scheduled to lose his jewels next Wednesday! Yay! He's the only critter on the place with testicles, must amend that. Not that I have anything against boys, if I needed an intact male of any kind (other than human) around here. But I don't. I'm glad we're getting it done without him ever realizing he's a boy.

Anyone want to share any stories of gelding with me? Preferrably more good than bad? I don't know what the percentage of complications is, but I'm a little worried something might go wrong after the fact. We have a vet around here that's been known to leave sponges in there. And then try to charge for the farm call to remove it and the treatment of the infection! Not my vet, thank you very much.

Linda mentioned gelding after the first frost to make sure flies aren't a problem. Amazingly enough, we have very few flies right now. I heard that we've already had a frost. Not sure if that's true, but I have been able to see my breath at night when I feed.

The main reason I'm not waiting another month to geld him is that I want to wean him. But I want to geld him and have him recovered before I wean him. So I'm kinda in a hurry. Bella is only 3, and I would LOVE to get a little more growth on her if at all possible. Taking the baby off her might help with that. I know, it's a long shot. (Reminder, I did not breed Bella, she was bred on the range before the BLM roundup. I would never breed a 2 year old. Or a 3 year old. Or maybe any horse...) Also, I want to start working with Bella, which I can't do with Scout pulling on her halter and getting in the way of her lead rope. I could take her out, true, but it would be more convenient if he were weaned. I'm not weaning early, he'll be at least 6 months old when I separate them. Not sure why I'm getting all defensive about weaning the boy. Anyway, there's my rambling on that subject.

Sooo... Just to bore you a bit more... Today I took in the recyclables, went to the feed store, Taco Bell, grocery store, fought with my son there, came home, sat on my butt, scraped and sanded trim, picked up the in-laws' mail, went to my sister's to get back some borrowed stuff, lend some stuff, and borrow some more stuff, dropped off the in-laws' mail, and then came home and worked on dinner. Ooh, that reminds me, I need to work on chocolate chip cookies. And separating out some sourdough starter for bread tomorrow. Mmmm, cookies. Mmmm, homemade bread. Better make sure I work extra hard tomorrow to make up for my gluttony.

Tomorrow I think I'm supposed to ride with my mom and her friend (who I'm nervous about putting on Mack) and then scrape and caulk and maybe paint, and then go to the fair.

Good times, my friend, good times! Better to be busy than bored.

I have big news! I was going to wait to tell you until I had pictures to prove it, but I haven't had anyone to take them for me.

I climbed up on Bella! Several times now, from both sides. But I didn't get all the way on. Just draped myself over her back and wiggled my legs around in the air while I petted and made a big fuss on the other side. She's really tolerant, doesn't care much, just keeps eating.

Soon I'll throw a leg over. But I'll be better prepared for that, with my helmet and a halter and lead on her. I may have John hold her for me and lead me around, but I'm not sure.

Check out where we were on our lunch break today:

My friend Melissa and I took Soxy and Tonka out for a beautiful ride today. The horses were relaxed and seemed to enjoy themselves too. We saw some deer and some cattle. The fall colors are just starting to come on, and with the recent rains there's a fair amount of green too. Very pretty.

Here's Tonka playing hide-and-seek at lunchtime:
And a picture including Soxy's big beautiful arse:

I tried to schedule the farm call for Scout to be gelded today, but they never called me back. Sounded like they were really busy, and it's not like it's an emergency or anything, but I really wanted to set a date! I'm also going to have them re-check his eye and look at Bella's teeth and hips. Her teeth are probably fine but I want to be sure there isn't anything that needs to be addressed before I start bitting her. And she's had a weird hitch in her hind end, I'm hoping they'll tell me it's just the ligaments relaxing from birth and nursing. I know that humans continue to produce the "relaxin" that keeps things loose up until the baby is weaned. I haven't seen her have an off stride in a while, so hopefully it's not a serious problem.

I'm worn out, headed for bed. Good night!

My son is weird! I was just standing in the living room, and he's in his room, and he says in the weirdest voice, out of nowhere, "Hi. My name is Joe and I work in a button factory. Once day my boss came up to me and said, 'I am a dog.'" He can't read that well yet, so he's not reading a story... I have no idea where that came from. Oh! Now it makes more sense. Part of it was from a song they sing in music sometimes... But not knowing where it came from, it was funny. Probably one of those things where you had to be there.

We have been so busy this past weekend. We're doing some home "improvements" that actually make the house look like terrible, but when we get the painting done it will be nice.

Here's my before photo:

Then we tore out the bushes, powerwashed, and are in the process of scraping.

Here it is now:

Here's where the bushes went, along with some tree branches that needed to come off:

Here's a baby trail horse in training:

Here's what John did for the past 24 hours:

Well, he didn't tow around a tractor for that long, he used the tractor to mow weeds. I want a tractor. Really bad. And this one was really fun to drive. But this tractor, used, goes for around 20k, and it doesn't have anywhere near the power we'd need.

Today we bought primer and paint for the bathroom, which my mom has made her pet project. It was pretty bad. The paint on the ceiling was peeling, there were tobacco stains bleeding through the paint, and there were some cracks in the plaster. So it's getting a facelift too. I didn't take before pictures, and I probably won't take after pictures. It's really not that interesting...

Once we were done at the paint store, John came back with the tractor, my sister showed up with her horse, the Roto Rooter guy came several hours early, the PCEI people who are working on our creek showed up, and it was crazy. Oh, and I had bread dough to tend to this whole time as well. Finally everyone left, except my sister, and then she and my mom and I went for a ride. It was interesting. My horse was pretty good but not perfect. Soxy was trying to eat and not listening

I just heard a big sploosh and an "oh shit" from the bathroom gotta go.

Update: Yep. My mom spilled a gallon of paint in my bathroom. She assures me she has it under control now though. I'm going to go do dishes while I enjoy my state of denial.

Well, I was able to upload one video anyway. Here's my mom on Soxy, and my Tonka's colorful and expressive ears...

We went out to Laird Park in the Clearwater National Forest and had a nice little ride.

Here's John on Mack. Sorry for the blurriness, I was taking a picture over my shoulder as we went along. Mack was a pretty good boy once he got over being in a hurry in the beginning.

My mom on Soxy (below). She was also a very good girl but doesn't seem to realize that tree boughs that are above her head might still be a hazard to her rider. She has no leg cues so that makes it harder... She had a hard time on the really steep downhill stuff. Her left hind leg has a hitch in its giddy-up and it didn't do well.

Tonka, begging for some Backcountry Bar: (Don't mind the ugly breastcollar, he had to give his good one to fat old Soxy because none of the others fit her.)

And Soxy REALLY wanted some Backcountry Bar:
I haven't mentioned the Backcountry Bars before, I don't think. They're the food of the gods! Perfect for a trail ride. Lots of protein, nuts, fruit, brown sugar. A meal in a bar. And way tastier than a Power Bar. AND all the ingredients are pronounceable. You can order them online here: http://cookie-queen.com/ You can also buy them in the bulk section of the Moscow, Idaho Winco. John and I, and Soxy and Tonka, highly recommend them. Mack isn't quite so sure...

Oh, and since my mom doesn't know how to email me pictures from her iPhone, here's the only picture of me I have:

I wanted to say thank you to Barbara at the Serenity Room for the beautiful gift she sent me. It was an unknown prize, and she chose something very special for me, a rearing horse necklace. Thank you! What a fitting choice. :) (Not that my horses rear, the fact that it's a horse is fitting. Just thought I'd clarify.)

I rode my boy for two hours today, and tried 3 saddles, and still don't know which one he prefers. He seemed irritated when I rode him in the Orthoflex, but that could have been because I'd taken the first saddle off and he thought he was done. The third saddle was my dad's, and he seemed a little irritated at it too. But then maybe he was bored with the whole proceedings and wanted to be done. I am so tired of trying to figure out saddle fit on this horse.

We're going on a trail ride tomorrow, and I don't know which saddle to use. I really would like to ride in Arlene's Orthoflex saddle, but it hurts my calves so bad I can barely use my legs to cue him. I wish I had some half chaps or tall boots. I guess I'll play with different saddles and pads on Mack and Tonka before we go. My mom will be coming along too, riding Soxy. This ought to be interesting...

First of all, Mikey is looking for a home for this blind horse abandoned in Lewiston, Idaho. If there's anything you can do to help, or if you know of someone who might want the horse, please step forward.

On a happier note, I got to go for a ride again yesterday. First time I've used my trailer in probably two months. Felt good to be getting out there again.

However, if I'd have known my sister was riding this horse I might have stayed home.
Not really, I probably would have gone anyway. It just made me a bit nervous, seeing as how this horse has only been ridden a few times and my sister barely knows her. At one point I was a little worried she'd buck into Tonka, but she never did break into a buck.
She's really a nice little horse, just has never been taught anything. She's mainly been a pet and she's 12 years old. She's not mean or even very stubborn, and she's not spooky. So my sister is hoping she'll be a good replacement for her horse that can't be ridden much anymore. I think she looks like she could be part mustang. Who knows though...

Tonka didn't get the long-striding, ground-covering ride we were both hoping for, but he did get to play the 'ol broke horse that goes along with the greenie for comfort. New role for him. He was a little impatient at times, but really our only problem was that he wanted to eat really bad. He REALLY wanted to eat the wheat straw. Odd...
We travelled a distance along the highway and he didn't really even notice the traffic. He also got to follow a big huge loud combine down the road a bit. We weren't that close, but close enough that it had his attention. He wasn't afraid, just a little unsure.

The weirdest thing happened yesterday. My friend Laura was going to look for a new place to board Lyric. I saw an ad on Craigslist that was affordable and in the right area, so I gave her the number, had her call, she went out same day to meet the lady. Turns out it's someone we kind of know, who has a mustang! We met her at a Mustang Mentors meeting in Spokane. Very nice lady. Laura mentioned Tonka, and then it all fell together and they realized we all had met before. My boy is famous. :) Anyway, the way it all happened made it feel like one of those "meant to be" things. Lyric will be moving there on Friday, for which I am greatly relieved. It will be nice to know he's at a place where he'll get fed even if Laura can't make it out for the day, and he'll be in safe fencing and in knowledgeable hands. I can't wait to go visit him there!

My trail ride got called off. :( So I guess I'll be doing other exciting things today. Like laundry, grocery shopping, taking in the recyclables, and maybe taking down some old fence. My trailer is still hitched up, ready to go, but I'll have to go put it away and get on with my day. Maybe I can get my mom to come down tomorrow and ride Soxy on the trails with me.

I just came in from a beautiful little ride on my Tonka. I forgot how much fun it can be when he's relaxed and in a working frame of mind. When I took him out into the fields I had to work to turn him back toward home. He really wanted to see what was over the next hill, so I gave in and took him that way. After he'd gotten his look we headed back with just a few little hints from him that he'd rather keep exploring.

Scout was having a fit, I thought he was going to get stuck in the gate. I'm going to have to wean him from Tonka if I want to have any fun. I had to get down as we rode by just in case Scout did get stuck and all hell broke loose. But nothing happened. I almost put Tonka in with old Soxy, but now I'm glad I didn't because it turns out I can't go trail riding early in the morning like I had planned.

I tried the Orthoflex saddle today. It's really different. I think Tonka liked it, just judging by his willingness today. It was weird when we trotted and the springs in the stirrups came into play. I had no idea what that weird feeling was, thought maybe it was Tonka starting to get twitchy and think about bucking, but after I stopped I realized what it was. The saddle wasn't totally comfy for me, but nothing major to complain about. I think if your rode in it a lot you'd have to either get some tall English boots or half chaps to protect your calves when you ride. I loved the fit though, and the idea that it should fit most any horse. I'm definitely going to ride in it again, on another day when I can use both saddles and see which he seems to like better.

I'm going to go trail riding with a friend this week. Was hoping to go tomorrow but she has some sheep to wrestle so we're going on Thursday. I can't wait. I'll make sure to take the camera.

What a full day we had! I never did get to ride yesterday despite my insistence that I absolutely would. I had some sort of bug in the afternoon, or maybe I ate something that didn't agree with me.

So this morning I got up secure in the knowledge that I had to ride today. But while I was brushing him I realized that he really badly needed his sheath cleaned. I was supposed to do it every 3 months, and it's been something like a year and a half. So I broke out the Excalibur (that name just cracks me up) and got him all gooey and then rinsed it with some washrags and a couple buckets of warm water. It's still pretty nasty, but not near as bad. I was getting some rather large chunks of smegma out of there. He didn't let me get his bean, but I'll keep trying. He is more comfortable with the whole process now. :)

(Haha, when I went back inside my son asked me to wiggle his loose tooth. I said, "Honey, you don't want my hands in your mouth right now.")

Then we saddled up and did a lot of stupid desensitizing stuff. He hadn't been ridden in over a month, after all. More like 6 weeks. Holy cow, I am a bad horsey mama.

We practiced walking around in a cloverleaf pattern and stopping and backing in the center. Oooh, fun... But much needed. "His" baby was calling from afar, the wind was blowing, stuff was happening, and he needed to be tuned back up. By the time we were done I was getting a good stop or turn without touching the reins (mostly anyway). He wasn't as good at the trot but was rating a bit better without getting excited and rushing.

When I took the saddle off - my NEW saddle, which I LOVE - he hadn't sweated at all so it was no good for figuring out if this pad is a good one to go with this saddle. I did feel like I was moving with him better, and my leg to horse contact was very nice. I didn't try out the Orthoflex today. Hopefully I'll get a chance tomorrow. It might be nice to ride in one and then the other to see if there seems to be a change in his performance.

Then I trimmed his front hooves, which took a while because I'm slow as molasses and he'd built up a lot of sole. They look nice now, but my shoulder is acting funny...

Just when I was finishing up his hooves Henry showed up for a visit so I went to put Tonka away. Which was apparently Scout's cue to rip down the temporary fence and go prancing about loose with his mama. I put Tonka in the round pen because Mack was freaking out and blocking the gate to the pasture, then I followed Scout and Bella around until one of them decided to let me catch him or her. Her, it turned out to be. Once I caught Bella and took her into the round pen, Scout followed right with her. That kid...

Then we went up into the mountains to explore and see if there were any huckleberries left. I think we found 5 berries total. But we did find an awesome trail I can't wait to ride my horse on. And that's just one trail out of many that I can explore. Now I just hope my sister either finds a horse to ride soon or gets brave enough to borrow a horse. I could let her ride Soxy or Mack, or she could ride her husband's horse, but noooo. If she won't go I'm going to see if my friend Melissa will ride one of mine or take hers up and we could both go "horse hiking." Who says we have to ride anyway? I know a couple other people who might be able to go, but I think they have day jobs.

It's been a long day and I'm off to bed. Good night!

Well, we made some progress.

Here John had gotten some done already.

And here's when we had to come in to get rid of a load of wood:

I guess I don't know my own strength...

Lots more to do! I can't decide whether I want to go back out and work or save my energy for riding later.

Just the Mustangs. No Mack. And he is NOT happy about it.

But he looks pretty when he's upset.
And he's running around getting lots of exercise.

I moved them on to some nice grass today, but I didn't take Mack because he has a tendency to stir things up sometimes. Since I have Scout out without a good perimeter fence I thought I better not take any chances. And he could stand to be on a diet anyway. The fatty.

Scout had fun exploring his new digs.

Doesn't this picture look like a sneak preview of what he's going to look like when he's mature? He doesn't look like a baby here.

I better not leave Bella out. Here's a nice shot of a Bella butt, which is all she wanted to show me. She thought I was going to catch her and take her away from all this nice green food.
John led her around to the new spot, and he was really impressed with how calm she is. Scout, on the other hand, was a little bit of a turd. I put a halter that was too small on him and it freaked him out. Not his fault.

Speaking of John, you can see him in that last picture, getting ready to do some actual work, unlike me, who sits here playing on the computer. I better get out there and help him. We have plenty more fence to rip out...

Scout had his hooves trimmed yesterday, and really he was a rather good boy. I was complaining a bit, and then Laura asked me if he was really being all that bad for a kid his age. I had to admit he was being a good boy. He took his hooves away a few times, and was fiddling with stuff a bit, but for a baby he did quite well. I've heard some stories about stubborn babies, and he certainly wasn't that bad. Then I quickly refreshed him on leading and crossing over in the front and back, and then turned him loose.

Soon after that, as I was gathering my things, all hell broke loose and the three boys were running like demon steeds, irrational and strange. Tonka and Mack both had a bad horsefly, or maybe they got stung. I couldn't find a fly on either of them, but they both acted like they were being hurt for a long time. Maybe one of those stings that throbs and stings for a long time afterward. I sprayed them both down with fly spray and soon they were acting more normal. Tonka even let me spray him all over without a halter on.

"A Black Horse in a Dark Place." Laura thinks that would make a good story title. Poor Mack ran into his cave to hide from whatever was biting him.

Later in the day I took Bella away from Scout for the first time. Here are the boys pining after her. Aren't they handsome?

Bella had a nice relaxing grooming session in the shade. I swear this horse is so laid back and not worried that you'd think she was sedated. She checked out a tire and a barrel and walked over some scattered ropes like they weren't there. I think she's going to be a great trail challenge horse.

We wandered over to the bridge and I asked her to step on it. Here she's not so sure it's a good idea:

She needed some reassurance:

And she did it! Needed some more reassurance though:
She was a little nervous about backing off, but she did just fine. Then I quickly tried out the saddle blanket, which she hasn't worn since last fall, and then only once, if I remember right. She wasn't comfortable with it, but she did very cautiously step forward and back with it on her back .


By this point Scout figured his mama needed to get back in the pasture NOW! He was running and calling for a while before I put her back. He nursed immediately. Mack was almost as clingy.

Today I went up to Spokane and picked up a saddle that Arlene was kind enough to let me borrow. I have never ridden in an Ortho-flex saddle, and I'm very excited to give it a try. Thank you Arlene! I think it looks nice on Tonka:

Scout wanted to eat it. So I let him try it on too. It made him want to eat it more. (Don't worry, I didn't let him get his little teeth on it.) I didn't get a picture because I was holding the saddle. He didn't mind much at all though.

I think I'm going to insist on some riding time tomorrow. I can't wait!

Yesterday I got to go visit with Lyric, one of our horses that I sold about a year ago. He's a nice boy. We tortured him though. Wormed him orally with a paste wormer. Most horses you'd say, "Yeah, so?" but Lyric has been known to lift people off the ground with his head when you try to stick that tube in his mouth. But I took my time and didn't get worked up, didn't let him get too worked up, and within 10 minutes we got it done. Then we sprayed him with fly spray. He's not quite as worried about that, but still doesn't like it. It took a little time too, but we got it done.

When we had just finished saddling him up he must have moved his head or something, and I had his lead rope on the ground. That's how I ground tie, and that's how I did it when he was here, but maybe it hasn't been done like that for a long time. And he's always been afraid of dragging ropes and ropes in general. I even left one on him for a couple days once, to no avail. He was scared and unhappy the whole time, and the only thing he learned was not to step on the rope. Anyway, yesterday he started to spook, did a double take, started running backwards, reared up a bit and flipped over on his side. He was headed straight for a t-post, and when I saw him start to go over it really scared me. The post was capped, but still. He didn't touch the fence though. Poor boy, I think he thought he was in trouble after that, or maybe he was just confused about what had just happened. He took a little sweet-talking to calm down.

That horse scares me as a riding horse. This is the second time I've seen him flip over. I hope he doesn't do it again, and I hope he never, ever does it with a rider on.

Then Laura came home with me. She hasn't seen Scout since he was really small. She thinks he's the cutest baby ever. And he's sweet. Mack and the Mustangs were very social, as usual, and they hung out with us for a long time. Well, Bella hung back a bit, but she didn't mind when we brought the herd over to her.

Someday I will ride again... Maybe even today... Although I'm not going to hold my breath. I still have some fencing to tear out on the other side of the creek, some temporary fencing to put up, and my house is a disaster area. So I suppose I better get going.

Mack is still doing fine, so I guess we're halfway out of the woods. I really don't think he ate that much...

Soxy is a wonderful girl, she let me medicate her eye and give her bute over the stall gate with no halter on in the dark with a flashlight. Doesn't get much better than that!

To keep it somewhat on the mustang topic, Bella has been really relaxed and personable lately, and even showed some curiosity! That is a big step for her, usually she stands tense and tries to stay in denial about anything that's going on around her.

I got a call from our area's BLM office the week before we left for Hawaii, and he wanted to do a compliance check on her. Since I was going to be gone he said we'll just do it some other time. I get the impression he doesn't get up this way much. I hope he calls soon, I can't wait to show off my good girl. I filled out a volunteer form to mail to him today. I hope I get a chance to help out in some way. He said he doesn't really need any help, they have so few adopters in this area of Idaho. Hmm, well then why did it take him almost a year to do my compliance check? He was much quicker with Tonka, came out about a month after I adopted him. I wonder if he remembered how well Tonka did so he wasn't as worried about getting to me right away this time.

Anyway, those are my blatherings for the day. Hope you all had a glorious one!

Mack is fine so far. The vet thought he'd probably be fine. He told me to just watch him. Check gut sounds, heart rate, digital pulse and leave him in his pasture for the somewhat laxative effect of the grass.

I've been working on fence so I can replace the damaged section with HorseGuard, which is 1000 times better than the cheap tape that Mack broke. Then I spent a long time with Mack and the Mustangs (hee hee, sounds like a good band name). He's happy, lovey, itchy, and overall totally normal.

On another note, Soxy, the old appaloosa, is having eye trouble again. So I have to medicate her eye and give her bute twice a day. Poor girl, you can tell it hurts. She's also wearing her fly mask to protect the eye from the sun. She has shade available but isn't standing in there. Of course, it's cloudy today so that's probably a relief for her.

So far I haven't gotten anything done that I had meant to do today, but the stuff that came up was important, so that's okay.

Darn horses and their need for self destruction! I woke up this morning to see Mack wandering around out in front of the house. No big deal, John caught him and put him back, then closed off the area where they'd broken the cheap electric tape fencing. But when I went out to feed I found my feed room destroyed. I've been meaning to put up a gate, but well, I hadn't gotten to it yet...

So I have a call in to my vet. He ate alfalfa and LMF Prime Time, which luckily isn't really as rich a grain as some, but still not a good thing for him to chow down on. I have no idea how much of either he got. Come to think of it, I have no idea how he got in there and back out again, it's kind of a tight space. But anyway... I'm thinking there must be something I can give him to help his gut through any crisis that may be going on in there. I've read about activated charcoal to bind the starches in an acute laminitis attack, and probios to help the unbalanced gut flora, and banamine to stop any inflammation. But I'm not brave enough to try it until I hear from a vet. I don't have the charcoal, but I guess they sell it for fishtank filters, so I might be able to get it from a pet store if the vet doesn't have it.

So far Mack seems fine. I can't tell if he's looking a little bloated or if maybe he's just as fat as he normally is and I'm seeing things.

I hate waiting. And of course, MY vet isn't there today. Not that I don't trust the others, but Steve is my very favorite. My critters always seem to have issues when he's not there.

I'll let you know what I find out...

What a wonderful, busy week! My dad was here last weekend, and my cousin came to visit with her little boy too. I wish we'd been able to ride together, but it will have to wait for a longer visit. We did have fun just hanging out with the horses. I love having a curious, friendly bunch of horses to show to people. I think my cousin would really enjoy the therapeutic, stress relieving horse time, if she could settle in and just spend time with them. Her little boy was kind of afraid of them. They are rather big and a little overly friendly.
Then my good friend Della and her kids came to spend four days. Four wonderful, too-short days. The kids got in some good horse time. Her daughter got to sit on all of the horses and loved it. She got in a longer ride on good ol' Coda, and did some solo riding on both Coda and Soxy in the round pen. Della had her camera out for that one, but I didn't. I'm hoping she'll send me some good pictures soon.

The wee baby is 11 months old, just old enough to really think the horses were neat. He stuck his fingers right into their noses. He hasn't quite got the knack of petting yet, but he did get a good grip on Scout's mane just like a seasoned bareback rider.

If you click on this next picture and check it out full-size, you will see a most beautiful, joyous face on a very happy little girl. (I'm there holding her if you look closely.)
Tonka loves to sniff feet, by the way. He is a strange one...

When we had the old horses saddled up for a ride I turned Liam loose on Coda in the round pen. When he was asking Coda to trot a very shocking thing happened. He bucked with my little boy aboard! I was petrified. As was Liam. But he kept his seat and was very proud of himself afterward. I was livid. Darn horse! But the next day after I had some cooling off time and went back out to pet the very apologetic old man, I realized we had asked too much of him. His feet hurt. I mean they really hurt. He tried to refuse and we insisted and he did the only thing he could think of to do. So I won't be asking that of him again. He'll get to do pony rides for the little folk at a walk, but that's all.

It really got me to thinking it may be time to put him down, because his feet hurt so bad all the time, but my sister talked me out of it. When she had him she'd let his feet get really long and absolutely horrible looking, but he was sound. So I'm going to let them grow, against all of my instincts, and hope it helps. I will try not to think too much about backhoes and injections until I know there are no other options.

School is starting this week! Free time! Horse time! Time to get a LOT of projects done that got neglected this summer.

• Cleaning up of old fencing and mowing to do before the environmental group comes to remodel our creek banks, plant trees, build a creek crossing, and put in a wetland.
• Start Bella under saddle.
• Get Scout gelded and then weaned.
• Powerwash and paint the house.
• Put up another horse shelter.
• Add a lean-to for tools and yard equipment.
• Put in a couple new hitching posts.
• More to come, I'm sure...

Tomorrow I think I'll start with some poop scooping, moving the trailer, riding Tonka a bit, and maybe even get Bella into the round pen and see how she and Scout react to being separated. The rest of the week I'll be going to a meeting, taking down old wire fencing, sorting and holding sheep for their selenium injections, visiting with a friend, and getting ready for my grandparents to come visit. Can't wait to show them my sweet horses!

Sourdough Success! (Totally Not Horse Related)

I have tried many times to get a sourdough starter going. Well, at least two times. It didn't work. But I picked up a kit in the San Francisco airport that actually worked! In 24 hours I had this totally nasty smelling, bubbly concoction. Then I separated some out in hopes of having sourdough pancakes this morning.

Around midnight I was hearing the weirdest noise. Kind of like the popping of a fire, but not. it was the darn starter trying to escape the sealed canister I bought for it. So I got up and popped it open, cleaned up what shot out, and went back to bed. The bad news is, this morning my starter looks dead. I'm hoping to rejuvenate it in a warmer area.

The good news is, the baby starter for the pancakes was doing great. The pancakes were very good! Kind of bland, but I think the flavor gets better the more you feed your starter. I used this recipe. She says it's light and melts in your mouth, but I've never met a sourdough pancake that isn't super rich and sticks to your ribs. It almost makes me sick to eat them, but I love them so.

Sourdough questions in case any of you know:

• Is sourdough residue bad for my septic system? I can just see it bubbling up and filling the septic tank with goo.
• Is it good or bad for compost? Not that I have a true compost pile, but I'm going to dump this in my "poo pile."
  
• Does it get easier to keep clean and fed as you get used to it? It's all very messy and time consuming.
• Why do I have to keep such a large "mother starter?" This one overflowed out of a two quart container. I'd prefer that it didn't do that... Can I just take a little extra out and feed it the normal amount? I just need it a teeny bit smaller.

I better get online and research this some more... That, and I still have a lot of housework to do. Why do I seem to blog multiple times in a day when I'm supposed to be cleaning? I just can't help myself.

Oh, and on a funny horsey note, I have decided that Tonka needs a binkie. He just loves to play with things with his mouth... Maybe if he had a big horsey pacifier he'd be more settled. :)

I haven't had time to do much with the horses, so I don't really have much to talk about. My time has been taken up by house guests, cleaning, and school shopping. Today I'll be cleaning again. And making sourdough pancakes. For lunch, not breakfast, because my chickens are slackers and we have to go to the store for eggs.

This afternoon my good friend is coming for a visit with her kids. They'll be staying until Sunday. We're hoping to get a little riding in, especially for the kids.

About the saddle...

Isn't it pretty? It doesn't fit. Too wide. But I've had two recommendations on pads that might make it work, and I think it will fit Bella and Mack. I haven't had time to try it on them, but they are both wider than Tonka.

It's been raining here, which means it's an ideal time to trim hooves. All the hard packed dead sole that I'm too lazy to pare out when it's dry and rock hard is now ready to come out. Well, kind of ready. It's still a chore. But Bella got her front feet done last night. I'll hopefully get her hinds and Scout's feet done today. Although, if we get the thunderstorms they're forecasting, the horses may not want to stand for it.

So anyway, that's my boring life right now. Not boring at all for me, I'm keeping plenty busy. I don't even want to get started thinking about all the stuff I should be doing that I don't have time for. Which doesn't include blogging, so I'd best get going...

I am so happy to be home.

I've been busy as heck the last few days, should have some quiet moments here and there tomorrow though.

Look how big Scout got while we were gone:

Bella and Scout have both had a rider up! My 6 year old little mustang tamer sat on them tonight. With my arm firmly around him and hand hooked into his hip. Scout didn't care a bit, just twitched his back a little like he had a fly on him. I only let Liam sit there for a minute or less, don't want to hurt the baby. Bella was worried and it took a few tries. She stood nicely though until she looked around to her off side and saw him there as well. She decided to leave the scene at that point, but not with much speed. He also got to sit on Tonka, who just kept eating his dinner as if we weren't there. Liam says Tonka has a bony back. I agree. Mack was as worried as Bella was, but maybe a bit more reactive about it. He did eventually stand still for it, but didn't keep eating like the others did. He stood tense and worried the whole time. Goofball, he's broke to ride! Something about it seemed unnatural to him though.

I'll get pictures tomorrow, we're definitely going to do it again. Liam was SO excited to be the first to sit on them.