A Couple Updates and Some News

There's not a lot of excitement around here- January is not the most exciting time to live in Canada. Unless you ski. Except that you can't ski here - there's hardly any snow.

With all the thaw and then freezing Irish developed an abscess.

handsome but high maintenance

He likes to run around and I think he probably bruised his foot. You may think I'm a horrible owner but I did nothing to try to 'help'. Irish has had many abscesses over the years (he's prone to them) and I've tried poulticing, soaking etc and nothing has ever made a difference. Now I turn him out and let the walking help it to burst. He's on a daily dose of previcox and can't have any more painkillers. Anyway, he's better now. He spent a lot of time dramatically showing me his foot and how sore he was. I told him to stop running around like a fool over nothing and he was insulted.

Both horses have a hay rack in their stalls. Since I installed it, Irish won't eat the hay that falls to the floor of his stall. When it builds up I take it and put it outside in the paddock. Irish immediately goes over and starts eating it.

Horse logic.

Carmen is minding the lack of being worked. Now, after her supper she wants me to stand at her stall and scratch her. I'm enjoying that she's missing the work but I suspect that it won't carry over to actually wanting to work.

I miss this view

Ed and I are looking at replacing the flooring in our upstairs bathroom. It's quite worn and stained - it's been like that since we moved in but it wasn't high on our priority list. Now it's time. It's fun to go and look at flooring and then paint colours. 

And now for my news. I knew that we were going to get another dog but wanted to give us time to come to terms with losing Belle. I did a lot of thinking on what kind of dog I wanted. I love Border Collies but two seems like too much. I wanted a dog with intelligence, drive and energy. And one with protective instincts. There are a number of dogs who suit that bill and I settled on German Shepherds. Then it was to find a puppy. I looked at older dogs through rescues but they all said something along the lines of no other dogs, or cats or children. I can't risk d'Arcy nor my cats or horses. I can raise a puppy to fit into our family. I did some research and sent a ton of emails. FYI dog people are a lot like horse people in not returning inquiries. However, I found a breeder who was very responsive and answered all my questions patiently. 

So in a few weeks one of these little brown bundles will be coming home to Oakfield Farm: