Competing Priorities

The Roaming Rider's most recent post was about the joy she's finding in having her horses at home. I am not going to write about that because I very likely go on about it a bit too much.

But I do want to explain why, if you drop in to visit in the morning,  you will often see my barn aisle dirty and other chores not completed. It has to do with the amount of energy I begin every day with and how I allocate it throughout the day.  When I first brought Irish home I spent a lot of time making sure that everything was spic and span before I even thought about riding. The problem was that by the end of the day I didn't have much energy left and would end up not riding.

when you're really tired but don't want to miss dinner

What I learned was that if I rode first I would always make sure that the chores were done. However, if I did the chores first I wouldn't always ride. So now I work with the horses first and then tackle everything else.  This is working out for me quite well - I might be more exhausted but it's a happy tired.

How do you manage to balance the horse 'work' with the horse 'fun'?

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And because I know you really want to know: Guinness is settling into the routine. He is only getting up once in the night and then making it to morning. His protests over being crated are less and less. His accidents are by the door so I think he's trying to get out but can't. As soon as he goes near the door, Ed and I jump up and take him out.

he now has one ear up and one down and it's really adorable. I was surprised at how early it happened but I understand that it may flop again when he begins teething.

I'm starting to do short 'walks' with him around the property. At first he was unsure of leaving his 'yard' but now he comes along. I find his personality to be fairly quiet and measured. He can play and carry on but he's not a hyper dog. That's probably coming but I don't think that's who he will be. I jokingly call him 'old man'.

D'Arcy is doing a good job helping us parent. He will tell him off if he's too annoying. Initially, Guinness would run away, now he sits and barks back. 

stick thief! 

Now I have to balance the priority of training Carmen with training Guinness. I'm hoping I don't neglect one or the other but we shall see. Keep your fingers crossed- the ring is clear but the temps are due to drop again this weekend. I hope not, I want to get in the ring! 

Community

Growing up, my brother and I spent a lot of time with our grandparents.  We were surrounded by a community- neighbours, family, church. I had no appreciation for it at the time but there was not a house that I couldn't go to if I needed help. When I lost my boot in a nearby garden because I wanted to pick a fresh cucumber, the owner knew exactly where to return them. Heck, he probably watched me through a window. Life circumstances required my mother to move us to a 2 bedroom apartment in the city. I missed the sense of community but I was six at the time and didn't know what I was missing until I was much older. I only knew that there was something missing.

my brother and I back in the day

When we moved to our farm we were new comers. I'm sure that the neighbours were curious about who this couple were and what we were doing to the property. We were strangers who bought a house that had belonged to one family for a few generations. Ed joined the Volunteer Fire Department and I joined the Auxiliary. Slowly we got to know people in our community.

so much has changed since we bought this place. Now there's
a barn, a garage and fields. 

 I remember the first summer we went to a plant nursery and I chose a bunch of flowers. This nursery only took cash and I didn't have enough. I asked if I could put my flowers to one side and go get some money. The woman working the register said 'sure'. There was another woman and she asked where we lived. I told her and she said 'oh I know you- I drive by your house all the time. I love what you're doing there. Take the flowers and drop the money off when you have a chance'.  

The last few days has been bitter- there's been a strong north wind that is physically painful to be outside in.  The night before I knew that my water tap was frozen but I decided to deal with it in the morning. I figured that I would re-fill the water trough outside at the same time. So in the morning, with Guinness and d'Arcy in tow I was in the barn boiling water in the kennel while I fed and picked out the stalls. Irish had pooped in his water bucket again. Really horse? I had to unplug it and take it out to dump it. It was about 6 a.m. and -22 with the windchill.

When the kettle boiled I poured the water over the tap- finally I heard it let go and water began to come out. After 1/4 of a bucket it stopped. The pump kept running but no water.

Damn.

I went in to get water from the sink. No water and the pump was running and running and running.

Shit. 

 Something was wrong. I turned off the pump and grabbed some buckets. I headed into the house and began to fill them in the kitchen sink. Muttering and cold I stomped back and forth filling the water trough. I then let the horses out.
Irish: It's about time! 

Ed went out to see if the pump needed priming but nope that wasn't it. We were going to need a plumber, which meant waiting until Monday. I put a complaining post on FB and began to drink my coffee. I received a text. It was from a neighbour asking what was wrong. I said I didn't know but she said that her husband was familiar with wells and pumps and they would be over around 10. I then got another text from Cynthia offering her husband to come and help. I put them on standby and prepared the coffee.

Derrick and Julia arrived just after 10 and he began to inspect everything while Julia provided what she called 'moral support'.  We finally determined that the top water in my well had frozen.

iceberg from NFLD looking like a sea monster

I was surprised- this had never happened before. The well for the barn is an old dug well about 20 feet deep with a cement top. There's a crack in the lid and the relentless arctic wind had been entering the well and froze the top of the water. Normally it would be sheltered by the snow. I began to pour hot buckets of water into the well to get it thawed. Derrick fixed the pump and got it all primed. I piled some old horse blankets on top of the well to block the wind. That will do until we get a more permanent solution in place.

After we had a hot cup of coffee and chatted about family and other things. I thanked them for taking time on their day off to help us. 'That's what neighbours do'  was all that was said. Julia and Derrick drove off and I waved good bye feeling much better. 

Not just because I now had running water (although what a relief that was), but because I felt part of a community. 

Too Cold to Ride So Here's a Puppy Update

My ring is pretty well bare by now but there's an arctic blast freezing everything in sight. The temperature is -10 and with high winds the wind chill is -22. I have had to put Carmen's blanket back on.

Guinness is doing very well. Thank you for all the suggestions on crate training. The third night he got up at midnight and I took him outside. When we came back in he started to cry in his crate so I went and grabbed a blanket and covered his crate. The crying stopped immediately.  So now when he goes in he whimpers for a bit and then settles. It's like a condo in there- he has chew toys, a kong with  peanut butter and his soft blanket.

He's not enjoying the cold weather and that  is actually helping with crate training as well. Crying at night and getting rewarded with having to pee outside in the cold is not the most motivating thing. Last night he just work up once at 2 a.m. and then slept until 6:30.

he found a patch of sunlight

He sometimes needs some encouragement to come out and pee but he's learning to do his business and then get a treat. When he's done he will head back to the door of the house.  I'm being careful with the exercise- letting him toodle around outside and play as he wants. Right now he does short spurts and then naps.

With this weather the barn is handy because we can get some exercise and work while being out of the bitter wind. He's very people oriented and I'm taking advantage of that to teach him some very basic commands- just a few minutes at a time. I'm totally biased but I think he's very intelligent. 

Come? How about here? No? How's this? Is this right? 

Ed and I took him on a car ride and dropped into the vets. I wanted to drop off his records and book his booster shot. Guinness thought it was great- the nice lady behind the counter gave him treats. There was a small dog there quite interested in Guinness (in a friendly way) but Guinness started to bark at him. Once he has all his needles we will definitely start on socialization. 

The cats are getting better. Chester is still kind of freaked out but Guinness completely ignores him. He is fascinated by Martin though- he really wants to play and be friends with him. I think it's just Martin's cachet- he's a very charming cat. 

I just want to play!
Go away kid. You're not cool enough
(note d'Arcy's nose in the corner)

see Chester at the top? That's been his expression for days. 

d'Arcy is doing fairly well. He's a bit jealous of the attention the puppy might be getting but he's loving all the trips outside. While I try to get Guinness to pee or poop I throw a stick for him. He is also getting lots of attention. The only issue is that Guinness really really really wants to snuggle with him and d'Arcy is not a snuggler.

He comes to the barn with me as I do my chores. I make sure that he's safe from the horses and he runs sound the barn. Yesterday I picked him up so he could see the horses in the stall. He stared at them with wide eyes.
Me: See these guys? You are going to help me look after them when you older. 
Guinness:  Me? They are so big. I don't think I'll ever be able to do that. 
Me: We'll see. 

At breakfast and supper I give him a piece of carrot while I feed the horses. It's adorable to see him run off to hide and then chew on it. All my dogs eat raw carrots although it's making Guinness' poop interesting with orange bits.

So Guinness is a great fit for our household. Which is good because he's hit it like a mini-tornado and it's only going to get livelier. I can't wait as we do more together.

I will leave you with an adorable moment:

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Two Horse Tack Buckle Nose Halter Review

A couple weeks ago I received an email from Two Horse Tack. They had found my blog and wanted me to review their buckle nose halter and in exchange I would be getting  a free halter. I checked out the website and thought why not.

So in full disclosure I have received a free halter in exchange for this review. However, I will not lie and had I not liked I would have let them know and asked if they still wanted me to post.

These halters are made of biothane- a product I have never heard of so I had to research it. From the Two Horse website:

Beta BioThane® is a web coated nylon that is quite simply the best material available in the equine marketplace. It is stronger and more durable than nylon or leather. It is also easy to clean and completely hassle free. It is soft, supple & extremely pliable. A must have for any equestrian as it has a better feel than leather or nylon. It is more comfortable for not only the rider but the horse as well.

Apparently it's used in harness and endurance tack. It also comes in all sorts of fun colour. When I was choosing my halter I was sorely tempted by the purple one but since I still wasn't sure I chickened out and ordered the black in 'horse' size (it comes in mini to draft sizes and they will even make a custom one). Based on the website you can get a halter/lead combo so it all matches.

To be honest I thought that once they saw that I lived in Canada that they would decide it was too expensive to ship. But I was wrong and the halter arrived the other day. I was immediately impressed with the quality of the halter. It took a second look to determine that it was not leather. The halter was soft, pliable and not at all plastic looking. The hardware was solid and nice too.

at first glance this looks like quality leather. I like stainless steel
hardware and it seems to be of nice quality

The next step was to try it on. Coincidentally my ring was pretty clear of snow so I decided to work Carmen in the new halter. One of my 'issues' with lunging in a halter is how loose the nose band is. I think that the flapping around and/or tugging with the line is not comfortable. However, with the buckle on the nose I could adjust it to where I liked it. Also, given Carmen's head shape it was nice to be able to fit the crown and nose separately.

I totally could have pulled off the purple one but you would need
to get a different coloured lunge line!

You can see that she needed the crown let out a bit and the nose brought in. I might even try another hole tighter on the nose to see what she thinks.  If I ever get to the point of attaching a lead to the halter to ride this would be perfect. 

In lunging the halter didn't bounce at all. To be honest she seemed to be very comfortable. Which given that I hadn't worked her in a month and it was fresh and windy out I was impressed with how quickly she settled back into work.  If the halter was at all irritating she would have let me know.

 I do like the black one on her but can we take a minute to appreciate how mature she looks? 

So in summary here are the Pros of the halter:

• It looks well made and high quality 
• I love the softness of the material and it's ease of cleaning. 
• the price seems reasonable to me: $35 for the 'base model'
• So many options: 
• all sizes and multiple widths- you can even get it custom made. 
• so many colours 
• you can swap out the stainless steel hardware for brass if you like ($3 more)
• there is an option for a black or brown leather crown piece for $5. 
• matching lead lines or lunge lines (cut to the length you want)

I tried it on Irish and it didn't fit him as well as it did Carmen. It wasn't a terrible fit but not as good as I would like. If you have a horse with a TB type head I would recommend going up in size. The material is stated to be very strong. Because of this I will probably replace the crown piece with a leather one. I am fine to use it for lunging and things but I prefer that there is something that will break if the horse is trapped or panicked. 

For me the final question is 'would I pay money for this product?' And the answer to that is 'yes' - I would definitely buy it! 

Bringing Up Baby

There's a reason women my age can't bear children- oh my god it's tiring.

Guinness has hit our house like a little cyclone. He's adorable.

a new collar that fits 'but it itches Ma!'

The first night was not one of rest. Guinness was not impressed with his crate with the soft cushion, chew toys and kong stuffed with peanut butter. He spent a lot of time howling. We took him out to go to the bathroom twice but the rest of the time stayed firm that he must learn to be in his crate.

The theme of yesterday was introducing him to my routine and ensuring that he learned to pee outside and not on the floor.

I made sure that he was in his crate a few times during the day and ignored the ruckus. Each time he settled down. I find him to be smart and he's learning that when he goes out he's to pee. Hopefully soon he'll learn to let us know. 

d'Arcy is being good with him. He won't let him snuggle in though and it's causing some distress for Guinness. d'Arcy says that it's because the little bugger is looking for a place to nurse and that's unnerving. 

d'Arcy checking to make sure Guinness peed correctly

We went for a few walks around the property during the day. I love watching him walk- he's shoulders are so big that he walks like a bull dog right now. Cynthia suggested that I get him a piece of old leather to chew on and I found an old bet up brow band for him. He loves it. He has also taken over this old throw blanket so that's now his bed.  It used to belong to my mother so I'm sure that she would love that the puppy loves to snuggle on it. Guinness is very people oriented which is good.

Last night in his crate he threw a major fit when we put him in. I made sure that he was walked and had gone to the bathroom. I had frozen a kong with peanut butter and put in his 'blankie'. That lasted about 5 minutes and he began to kick up a fuss. About 30 minutes in, Ed left and went to the loft over the garage to sleep (there's a pull out couch) muttering about having to work. I was fine with that. I just ignored it and fell asleep with him howling. Yay me- I do love my sleep. Periodically he would wake up and cry but I only got up twice to let him out- at 1 and at 4 a.m. 

The cats are less than impressed. Poor Chester is looking as nervous as a nine tailed cat in a room full rocking chairs. Martin is curious but disapproving. Yesterday he would follow us around outside but when I looked at him would ignore me completely and act all nonchalant. 

I can neither see you nor hear you human. I am
engaged in cat business

Last night every time Guinness whined or barked Martin would tap me on the face. 

Guinness: I'm lonely and not tired. I shall sing until you come to rescue me

Martin: that creature is interfering with my sleep

Me: he's learning to be in the crate. We have to ignore him

Guinness: *howling* All by myself, don't wanna be all by myself anymore....

Martin: he stops when you get up- so get up and deal with this. 

Me: no. leave me alone and stop tapping my face. 

Marin: You brought him home you deal with him

I am sure that he will figure this out. It will just take persistence. These days will go fast. And then there will be something else. 

I'm sure he misses his litter mates to snuggle with. 

PUPPY

We picked up the newest addition to the family. Ed and I drove to the pick up location at the airport and met up with the family taking my dog's brother. As soon as we opened the crate he ran up to me.
Oh my god he was so adorable.

I put on his new collar but it's too big. I thought I had bought one that was small enough and it won't be too big for long but I was worried that he could pull out of it. I did a short walk and he didn't pee and I was worried about him getting loose so we decided to get in the car and head home.

On the way he was quiet and then started to howl. I think that he had to pee but I was more worried about him getting lost then the pee so we kept going. When we were about half-way home I felt my lap get really warm. He had peed on me. He looked at me with his warm brown eyes and promptly fell asleep.


When we got home I gave him some food which he gobbled.

the only time he was still enough for a photo

I know that I'm biased but I believe that he's the most adorable puppy ever.

d'Arcy is behaving as expected- which means that he's enthralled and has assumed babysitting duties right away. When we went outside he was trying to introduce the newest member to sticks and dropped it on him. That did not go over well with puppy so I put the stick up.

I brought him out the barn and put him in the crate I set up there. He howled blue murder and the horses were riveted. Irish wanted to go check it out. Carmen looked interested and not freaked out. I told her that she wasn't the baby anymore.

 The puppy has peed on the floor twice and pooped. Every time I go outside he's only peed once but we'll get the hang of it. Now he is in his crate howling blue murder again but I believe that he will settle. He has toys, a kong and can see us (d'Arcy and I. Ed is at Wal-Mart buying a new collar). I do suspect that it will be a long night. Tomorrow I will get out my good camera and take some shots.

Oh, what's his name?

Right. I forgot to tell you. Allow me to introduce you to Guinness.

My heart is happy. 

Similarities

Two more sleeps until our house gets significantly livelier.

In the meantime the weather has turned warm and the snow is melting like crazy.

remember my post from a few days ago where the snow was practically to the 'H'? 

the ring is still a bit soggy but it's getting there. 

Last year about this time I was writing about how Carmen seemed to be more settled and mature. I would say that this year she's 'softer'. Not as on edge or sharp. When I pick out her stall it has always been pretty easy to move her over so I could get a spot but her reactions were always sharp and fast. Now the slightest touch on her haunch and she quietly steps over.  A few times I go into the barn and she's still laying down rather then leaping to her feet. Of course she would say that it's because she's too weak from hunger. 

I love her soft expression in this photo- it's fairly typical these days. 

When I was having lunch with Carmen I was telling her that I'm starting to realize how similar Carmen and I are. It was brought home to me a month or so ago when I was walking a trail. I was trying to get in my 5 km. I had my hood up and I was in my groove striding along. All of a sudden I heard 'Hello' from the woods on my right. 

'JESUS CHRIST' I yelled and jumped sideways about 10 feet. 

I spun and looked around to see an elderly couple standing in the trees about 25 feet off the trail. 

'Oh my heart- you scared the crap out of me'

'I'm sorry. ' said the older man. He explained that they had found a geocache. I could see that he was trying hard to not laugh at me. His wife looked offended- probably at my initial yell. But heck, it wasn't like I planned to jump around the trail swearing. 

I realize that that's what Carmen does when something startles her- she jumps sideways (and likely is swearing). 

I want my opinion to be heard and I will be quite persistent. I'm okay if the decision goes differently then I think it should as long as I'm heard.  I'm pretty sure that sounds familiar. 

I often have far too many thoughts in my head. 

Carmen often has a very busy brain. 

I get frustrated if I don't understand the task or I think I'm failing. 

I'm pretty sure Carmen is like that too. 

Wait, could we both be perfectionists? 

Irish: You are both Mares, what were you expecting? 

Are there ways that you and your horse are similar?