Thursday, May 15, 2008

My Boy and My Dog

I made it up to see my horse. Despite a stuffed up nose and an annoying cough. You know, I had the energy, so I did it. The clouds burned off and it was a warm sunny afternoon. My Boy was in the middle of his dinner and gave me a little hassle about being caught. For some reason, he also does this after not seeing me for a week. It's like he's forgotten what humans are or something. My sister had her vet out to finish her mare's strangles booster earlier this week. She talked to the vet about My Boy's head shaking episode. Her vet seemed to think it was not an allergic reaction, but maybe a mild cold. Maybe that's who got me sick?! But really, I was a little worried. His nose does seem slightly more drippy than usual. The mucous looks a little light greenish. But I know what bad mucous looks like, and this is not bad. My sister's mare had the scariest horse mucous I have ever seen last spring. And I heard the strangles virus can cause green mucous. My sister is watching for that in her mare. And My Boy had that vaccination a week and a half ago. So I plan to keep an eye on him. And worry. Because that's what I do best!
I was excited to try on My Boy's new Parelli halter. I thought it looked quite good on him.
This is what half of the arena looked like when we got there. It has rained a lot in the past few days. I debated on whether or not I should get out the canoe or the water wings. But I decided that My Boy and I could handle it. He likes to drink out of the puddles. It has been an obsession for him since last winter. He would even break the ice on top of them. It is not like we don't give him a huge stock tank of water. I read in an issue of my Appaloosa Journal that it is a good thing if your trail horse can drink water from a variety of water sources. This could come in handy someday. I, however, will not be drinking out of puddles. Should we become lost, I will most likely become dehydrated and perish.
By the way, my new white Parelli yachting line did not stay very white in this arena today. Oh well. I'm over it. My Boy and I played some of the Parelli seven games. Okay Pony Girl, what do you want me to do?
I have done similar games with him off and on. Loosely based on the little Parelli I have learned from my mom. And some general desensitization and moving away from pressure techniques. I was happy with My Boy's effort today. Despite having only half of his dinner. And it being warm out. And having those annoying gnat flies dive bombing his head. I think this Parelli stuff will be fun. Something new and challenging. He needs that. Gotta keep him on his hooves. He gets too bored and too cranky. I want to show him that our time together can be enjoyable.

We ended with his favorite thing. When I put him away, he did not linger near the gate like he usually does, and watch me go. He high-tailed it back to his hay. Where's the love?I just love this little horse bell hanging on the gate post of My Boy's pasture. I do not know where it came from. I decided I'm going to start ringing it when I go to catch My Boy. Maybe it will work like a clicker and a few months from now, I will just ring the bell and he'll come running. His mane and tail blowing in the wind. We will see. It will be an experiment. It worked for Pavlov, did it not?


I saw a lot of wildlife on the Painted Creek tonight. Lions and ravens and bears, oh my! Here is Simba.

You have to wear earplugs around this cat. I swear it. I think she is deaf. She talks to you non-stop. She missed her calling, singing in a kitty choir.

Here is the raven. He is keeping a watchful eye on the horse pastures.


And the bear. I think he caught that fish in the pond. Hope he avoided that Pond Monster.

And here is my dog Bailey. Some might argue that he is really NOT my dog.


But here is a story to prove that he might be. When I got to the farm tonight, my sister's boyfriend had already fed the horses. The dogs go along to feed. Bailey always wanders off into the woods for an adventure. The other dog, Sadie, came back to the house with the boyfriend. When I showed up, I went inside to change into my horsey clothes. The boyfriend was calling Bailey. And calling him. I went outside and started gathering My Boy's things. The boyfriend is still calling Bailey. Look, let me show you how it's done, I said. I call and whistle twice, TWICE for Bailey. I see his dark body running high speed across the back fence of My Boy's pasture. Tongue out, he gallops across the yard, right to me. I give him a big hug and a cookie and turn to the boyfriend. And you say this isn't my dog?

10 comments:

  1. Here is the story on the bell hanging on your boys pasture gate. You know how my boyfriends mom and stepdad are. They must go to swap meets and garage sales, like they will never see one again. So anytime they find something horsey (at least it is now horse, not cat) they buy it, sometimes we get these items as Christmas gifts, sometimes they just leave them on our back porch while we are at work. So with the numerous items we accumalate from the parents, they must go somewhere. I just hate not displaying something even if it is for a day or 2. That way they think we like it. Than if we don't like it we take it down and put it in the garage sale box. They'll never know, right? If we like it than we will keep it up. We like this bell. When our horses were in your boys pasture we would ring it also when we fed or went to catch them. My horses never learned to coma runnin' when the bell was rung (except during feeding time). I sure hope your boy figures this one out.
    Simba actually came out to play today huh? I think she has a boyfriend so she wants to go out more. Fine with me. The more she is out the less screaming in my ear. :)
    Yes we know MY dog Bailey loves you. And he would probably go home with you in a heartbeat if he could. How 'bout taking Sadie home for a night? This will give my Bailey a well needed rest from the pyscho Sadie.
    By the way Sis, how come you haven't put a picture of my beautiful Princess Sadie in your blog yet?
    Oh and one more thing. You think the arena looked bad today after 80 degree weather, you should have seen it yesterday after 2 days of NON STOP rain. Yeah, we would have needed those skii's or water wings and probably a life jacket.
    Are you excited for Saturday? Remember rise and shine early!!!

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  2. You are right on about horses drinking from a variety of sources - one of things that always scares me when I take my horse somewhere new and he doesn't drink the water. Thanks for the book recommendation - I look forward to reading it. The mentoring has been great but it hasn't involved as much horse time as I would like more reading/math and tutoring.Get well.

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  3. Oh boy Pony Girl, AND Paint Girl, you guys can send some of that rain this way, to the opposite coast. We are still under drought considerations all over the state here, from "extreme" in the northern portion, to what we have here- dust, brown grass, short first cut hay, dust, and more brown grass and dust. Scary situation...

    Love that horse bell!! Bet Your Boy figures out pretty quick about you ringing the bell for him. He IS, afterall, An Appy! ;)

    Have fun with the PNH stuff. It will help ligthen him up, and keep him soft. I L-O-V-E my rope halter. Have had this one for ummm....... 10 years or so now, and the lead for 6 or so, and I would not trade them for the world! Gonna have to learn to tie them. (You know, just to learn something new!)

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  4. I just love your blog. Whenever I figure how to I'd like to add it to my site.

    You asked me about spacing between pictures? All I do is keep hitting enter until I see a double space. Does that make sense?

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  5. And I love your new halter. I must get one for my mare.

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  6. Nice halter for My Boy. We got a Stacy Westhall halter for Dixie at the Midwest Horse fair and I love it, almost as much as Gunner's Clinton Anderson halter.

    I always wolf call the horses up for dinner, unless they are at the gate waiting already. It's awesome to see them running full out to come see me (and the feed of course).

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  7. Your boy looks fabulous in hunter green!! I love it!! He looks so excited to be doing his games!! I am glad he likes them!!

    We are swimming here too!! I am not too sure if I would drink from puddle water, maybe if I was really really thirsty!! But horses love it, it's the freshest water!! I love your pictures!!

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  8. The first few times My Boy drank from puddle water I was terrified he was going to get some weird bacteria and get sick. Then I realized that the puddle water was fairly fresh and not stale standing water, as it does drain out within a day or so. I always wondered if there was some attraction to it because it is sitting on the dirt? Some sort of mineral-deficiency to the horse? (Like cats or dogs eating grass for the digestive system.) That puddle should be dried up today. It is already 80 degrees here now!!
    Mrs. Mom: Go Appy's! (Sorry Paint Girl! ;)
    Thanks Trailboss, for the double spacing tip. But I've tried every thing and still do not always get double-spacing. It is my biggest snaffu with blogger! Anyone else have any advice? I've tried all the help centers and they speak in rewriting Code and that is a foreign language to me.....

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  9. My Boy is so cute!!!! He wears that halter very well.

    Thanks for visiting my blog!!

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  10. I post all of my pictures from Flickr. I click on the picture, go to all sizes, pick medium, right click on the message code then do the post. It gives me a format where I can see what I type and the weird thingys that are the picture (all the codes and stuff). That is the only way I post now. At first, I used to go to flickr and do the "blog this" and the picture was smaller and I had to tell blogger where I wanted the picture, whether on the left, right or centered. From your type it looks like you might be doing it that way. If so try going to all sizes and do like I said above. It never hurts to just play around with it.

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I love hearing from my readers!! I truly enjoy all of your feedback, advice, helpful tips, and stories. You all make me laugh and I learn so much from you, too. I will try to post replies to your comments as often as I can.

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