Boring winter!

This has been a *very* boring winter.

I fell off my horse in December just before Christmas and broke a rib. Oh that hurt like hell! I'm getting a little too old for that and I don't heal as fast as I used to. I've been way off my game. I think I'm just going to have to start using a saddle...as much as that disappoints me.

Of *course* it was my fault. We'd had a good ride and we were cooling off just shuffling around and...*boom* she's off and running for her life. Leaving me in a heap. I got caught off guard and yes I know better. Ain't that always the case. I used to be pretty good at falling off a horse but now? Not so much.

We've had a couple of *really* cold days but not hardly any snow. Sloppy ice storm a week or so ago. As much as I hate the wintertime a blizzard would be exciting right about now. At least...this time of year...it has a certain charm that's hard to describe.

Speaking of which. I pack in Chef Boyardee ravioli and Beefaroni for my "storm" food. In case we lose power for any length of time. At least I'll have a lantern, a book and my Chef Boyardee for the duration. But. It came to my attention some time ago that Chef Boyardee ravioli and Beefaroni use HFCS! And no. I do *not* knowingly eat HFCS.

But...thanks to FoodTalkCentral this also came to my attention! Throwback recipe!

Yes, it uses sugar and no, it's not like I eat a lot of this stuff. I don't think added sugar is good for you either. But hey, with this stuff in the pantry I might just look forward to a power failure!

A childhood favorite! And still a guilty pleasure.

Happy trails!

Our new home has some trails out in the back.

Thursday 8 November
We can easily spend 45 minutes in the woods and it's mostly easy going. As you can plainly see this a most beautiful sparkling pleasant fall day. No bugs!

And..on the other side of the woods...

Treats!
L knows the field is on the other side of the woods! She really enjoys these trail rides! On the other side of the field, beyond the trees are power lines. I used to ride those power lines 25 years ago. There's been a lot of construction out there in the past 20 years. Entire neighborhoods with 30 and 40 houses sprang up almost overnight. Said really. People still think of this as being "out in the country" but it's not at all like it used to be.

But we can still ride for hours out under the power lines!

Moving Day!

Well..This past Tuesday we went to move the rest of the herd off the property...

Tuesday, 7 August

Hot. But a nice day.
The girls loaded without any issues at all...

Horses are so funny. Their new herd gathered to see what was going on...

Oh look! New friends!
It was a ton of work but it was nice getting this stuff done.

The girls settled in quickly.

Grass! Lots of grass!
And...our second trip...horse on the left...chickens and barn cats on the right..

Lots of stuff to "browse" in their new home...

Of course I'd love to say the day came off without a hitch. But ...it didn't. We went back for the last two horses. One loaded. One...didn't. Now. I've seen it take people 3 hours to get a horse on a trailer. But. I've never. Had the pleasure. Of that experience. Until. Then.

B would have none of it. We teased him with carrots. We bread crumbed a path into the trailer with fresh grass. We sedated him. We pushed. We bum wrapped him. We hand walked his feet. He's traveled before but he's always been in a slant load. He's never been in a straight load. We got the vet out and tranquilized him. We got volunteers and tried to carry him in. This is one of those things you never ever want them to win. You'll live to regret it.

But...after almost five hours we had to give it up. It was starting to get dark. And we were all pretty beat up.

At least the barn is all cleared out and all the stalls are stripped.

We got a gold of someone with a slant load and we're going to try and move these last two horses tomorrow.

Luxurious Accommodations

With all the heat we've had lately L just loves the fan!

22 July

Followup

L has settled right in. She's very comfortable. I knew she would be.

And...this!

25 June. I am thrilled beyond words to have her on pasture.

Our New Home!

It's with much mixed feelings I gave up the farm this week. The turning point of course was last winter's ice. We had horses in stalls for 6 weeks. That they remained sane at all is a testament to their temperament. It was just the most awful thing. It was cruel and abusive but there was no way we could put horses out on that ice.

The only way to be sure it isn't going to happen again is to move. And here in New England this is the time of year you want to find a new barn. It's also very expensive to keep a horse here in greater Boston so I can't keep them all.

We started taking the fences down yesterday.

Our last day here. 23 June.

L's last day with her herd
We packed our things. Did the sad goodbyes. L followed me on to the trailer and hitched right in like we do this every day. She's my rock star! Off we go...

Nice rig! Check out the lower right hand corner there. Ya. Her friends watching us leave.
It was a short 3 mile ride. She unloaded quietly. Did a quick survey and followed me right into the barn. Biggest barn she's ever been in!

I think there are 35 horses here!
She had to huff and woof for a few minutes but I was very proud to have her present herself so well! I tend to brag sometimes and horses do have minds of their own. It wouldn't be the first time she's made an ass out of me!

And seriously! Look at this huge indoor! This will be so nice in the winter!
This is about as good a situation as can be under any circumstances. This is a very horse focused property and it feels right. I think L will be safe and comfortable here. We have a huge indoor. Two outdoor courses. Turnout with pasture. Trails.

And I'm fully boarding her! No more barn work! I swear sometimes my arms hurt so bad I can barely raise a glass of water. It will be a huge adjustment. Taking care of your horse is a satisfying thing and I've been doing it for longer than I can remember. I'm sure just enjoying my L will be easy enough to adjust to!

And..can you believe this? She's just two and a half miles away! How cool is that!?

Huge day. L's new home. 23 June.

Forever gone..

My previous barn. The property was sold a couple of years ago and we had to move on. Of course this was expected. Makes me sad anyway.

Then: Sometime in 2003

And now: 21 October 2017

I boarded there for over 20 years. It was such a thriving, vibrant place at one time. We'd had countless hours of fun. People complained their faces hurt from smiling so hard for so long. Animals everywhere all the time. Horses. Dogs. Cats. Deer. Rats. Mice. Raccoons. Woodchucks.

There was packing for shows at the crack of dawn. Getting back at the end of the day completely exhausted and getting pizzas or KFC.

There was freezing cold and howling wind. And our legendary hot humid summer afternoons. We even had a tornado come across the south side of the property in August 2004. I was out working L and I could see the weather coming from across the field. I didn't see any funnel - it was just all cloud and debris. We ran for the barn and no sooner had I run L into her stall the tornado passed about 125 yards south of the barn. We all stood in the doorway watching with "uh-oh" faces.

All nighters with sick horses. I can still remember waiting on a vet one February morning. 14 below 0 at 4:00 am. Oh how that sucked!

I buried two horses there.

It was a great property. Big barn with a quarter mile training track surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of acres of fields and woods. There were actually two barns there, one of which had been an equine rehab center at one time. It was a well known place. They had trained race horses there 50 years ago.

12 July 2009
It was spacious and comfortable. At least until the roof started to leak. Always full of light.

23 January 2011
I can't even make a guess at the hundreds and hundreds of hours there. Of course I miss it and it's so sad to finally see it's gone.

Edited to add:

I thought about it while doing stalls today. All the training time and riding time and just "horse care". 16 or 18 hours a week at the peek of show season to 6 or 8 hours in the dead of winter. I wouldn't be surprised at all if I had 7 or 8000 hours at that barn!

Picture of summer

Winter wasn't too bad. Bad enough.

Spring was just *awful*.   I don't know that it was the worst ever but I'm sure it was close.  Cold and wet.  I was still wearing mittens driving to work in May!   Everything is late.  The daisies came up a week or two late.  Not at all impressive.  They didn't last long.

The Black Eyed Susans started coming up and I found a new variant I've never seen before.  Apparently these are called "Irish Eyes" and they're very pretty.

There. The solid yellow ones.
I'm sure the corn will be late this year too.

This summer however has been just...stunning.  Dry.  Breezy.  Abundant sunshine.  In the 80s with an occasional thunderstorm.  This is New England at its very best!

Sunday 25 June. First weekend of the summer.
And this just says it all right here.  This is quintessential "summertime horse".

She's *very* good at this!  Sometimes I just want to run over and rub her belly!

Followed by a good shake. Ha now I have to clean that up!

Easy keeper?

Um.  Not so much.  "Easy Keeper" is an expression describing horses that don't need a lot of food.  And Canadian Horses are well known for being easy keepers.  Air ferns actually.

This presents some challenges however.

My fat girl
L has become seriously overweight.  I'd say...maybe...2 or 300 pounds overweight.

When we were competing we'd work a couple of hours every single day.  And in peak shape she'll take your breath away.  Sometimes we'd ride 6 or 8 miles just warming up.  L has a very large capacity for work.  She'll just go and go.  And go.  We were going to start endurance riding at one time.  But that's another story.

She barely gets a third of a cup of grain for breakfast and dinner.  We have no pasture so the rest of her diet is hay.

It's hard to keep her fit and I certainly don't have the stones anymore to do it under saddle.

So I'm putting her on a program.  She'll get some more disciplined ground work.  I'm talking about my discipline here.  I need to more actively supervise her exercise.

And I got this:

Tough-1 Hay Hoops slow feed haynet
Product review: So far it's just perfect! She's been eating too fast. And that's why she's getting as much hay as she's been getting. So I got that slow feed hay net a week or so ago and I'm just thrilled. She figured it out easily enough. It's slowed her way down so I can give her less hay and not only does it keep her busy she's also spending less time with an empty stomach. All kinds of wins. I have read that the net will break down and tear apart in 6 months to a year so I'll have to get a spare net to keep around.

Horses are special

Of course horses are special! Everyone knows that! But not everyone thinks of why they're special.

I've had animals of some kind or other my entire life.   Dogs.  Cats.  Birds.  Mice.  Hamsters.  Bunnies.  Fish.  I can't ever recall not having animals around for more than just a few weeks at a time.  We bond with them and they have special places in our lives.  They're family in every sense.

But horses are still special.  They're big.  They're a lot of work.  They require a big commitment to their care and training.  My horses have brought a grace and dignity to my life that I wouldn't have otherwise.  Horseback riding is much like dancing.  It's one of the few athletic activities that requires moving with another living being.  Boxing also comes to mind.  But no, even on the ground, it's more like dancing.

Much of our training is convincing our equine partner that there's nothing for them to be afraid of, nothing is going to hurt them, and you build your relationship on trust.  You can't make a horse do anything.  And whatever they do they have to do under their own power.  So you learn to persuade.  And build a partnership working together.

So.  I lost another friend this past season.  It's very hard to explain my affection for G.  I didn't blog much about G.  Truth is.  G was dangerous.

Seriously. She'd break your arm if you weren't paying attention
There's nothing rational about one's affection so I never thought about it much.  I'd had G since she was born.  She was the cutest baby!  Her sire was a 16+ hand champion Overo Paint.  Her dam was a classic Quarter Horse type Tobiano.  Fifteen hands, very stoutly built.  G was to be my forever horse.

Things don't always work out.  For whatever reason...oh, her delivery was very difficult and she was very sick when she was 4 or 5 months old...G turned very aggressive when she turned 2.  You learned right quick to recognize that hard look in her eye and let her have it.  Less she kick you in to the middle of next week.  Things got very hard when she was 8 or so because she stopped giving that hard eye warning.  You'd just hear her suck in some air when she was gonna let you have it and you had better be fast on you feet.  You learned to pay attention...*always*.

And she never grew in to what we'd thought she'd be.  Barely 13 hands and 800 pounds she was too small for me to put under saddle.  We started training her drive but she persistently came up lame after brief work sessions.  Turns out she had a bone defect in her right foot that caused her to be lame under the slightest amount of stress.

She ended up just being a big expensive pet.  It's sad really.  She was a real cute horse and if she'd had a kind heart and willing temperament she'd have been a great project for a 4H kid.

Very cute horse. 31 July 2004
I don't think one ever gets over this stuff. I've been through it before, I'll go through it again. Very hard decisions are sometimes thrust upon us and we never think of that when you get yourself into it.  Thankfully she never did hurt anyone.  And she left this life as easily as one can.  And with a mouth full of clover.  For that I'm grateful.

RIP little G. 11 March 1996 - 7 October 2016.

Finding our way around

There's woods all around the property. Much of the property is wooded and it's adjacent to some conservation land.

First ride! 20 December
But most of the neighborhood is residential. Rural. But still residential.

25 December - Christmas Day ride!
Our second trip out we explored some of the neighborhood. L was a rock star! She had never ever seen anything like this before! Houses. Driveways. Mail boxes. Basketball hoops. Sidewalks. Signs. Fire hydrants. Christmas decorations! She was all kinds of "up" but she was on her most perfect behavior. Bright and attentive. All the training delivers huge dividends. She wasn't all kinds of willing - she had more of a "weellll ok if you say so" kind of attitude.

Turns out barn work takes up a lot of time. After getting acquainted with the neighborhood I don't think rode again until...oh had to be the end of March anyway. I didn't really plan on not having time to ride and I'm a little disappointed with that.

We moved!

7 February
Winter wasn't without its challenges! Our barn closed last November. And we were all told to ...get out, get out now. There's never a good time for something like that to happen. But it *is* a risk you take when you rent space. Not only is the weather going to be a problem - here in greater Boston, usually by the middle or the end of October, people who otherwise keep their animals outdoors the rest of the year, they've reserved most (all) of the available space for the winter. Especially any place with an indoor arena.

I have some resources and I could manage. But..the situation ..well, some animals had no place to go. Five horses were homeless. I thought it over. I leased a farm. And took in the homeless animals.

Our Barn. 27 November 2015
What a huge adjustment! For everyone. Of course we had tons of work to do. Putting up sheds and fencing, getting stalls ready and of course moving. I've had horses for many years but I've never run my own farm before. Oh yes I have help. But still scary as all get out.

And this property is very different than where we've been for the past 21 years. Where we'd been in a huge (24 horse) barn surrounded by 1800 acres out in farm country, this is 12 acres in a (rural) residential neighborhood.

Our barn is just off to the left past the flagpole

Settling in just fine

13 December - Still getting organized

All tucked in 13 December
We made it through the winter with only one crisis. Everyone is still in one piece and we've experienced *many* new things. It's been good for the horses. Neighbors. Houses. Lights at night. Traffic. Lawn mowers...leaf blowers. Snow plows. Kids playing basketball. They'd never seen any of this before.

The barn is much smaller than we're used to, but it's cozy and has a certain charm. We're cleaning stalls with muck buckets because there's just so little room to maneuver. It's not permanent and we're making it work for now. And my core strength is pretty good these days!

They miss their shed

This is so sad. They *really* miss their shed. It collapsed under the snow over the wintertime.

Canadian Horse Status

L is a purebred Canadian Horse.

Snow bath! 29 January.
The (American) Livestock Conservancy has (again) classified the Canadian Horse as Critically Endangered. I looked at the data. Maybe...oh, 7 years or so ago there were more than 6,000 Canadian Horses and the breed registry data showed encouraging breeding data, with over 400 horses born in both 2007 and 2008.

Economic downturn always hurts the horse industry. For many of us equestrian pursuits are luxurious discretionary pastimes. Canadian Horses have been endangered before and their numbers were on a healthy rebound the early half of the past 20 years. Seven and eight years ago one would expect to see over 400 Canadian Horses born each year.

I looked at the numbers and ...well, I guess I just haven't paid much attention lately. I was shocked to learn the population has dropped to less than 2000 animals and the last year or record, 2013, there were only 170 newly registered Canadian Horses. Such sad news. These are perfectly delightful animals.

L is everything a Canadian Horse should be. Her farrier says "those are what feet are supposed to be like". Her dentist says "those are what teeth are supposed to be like". I put a blanket on her once. It was below 0. She overheated. She's big. She's strong. She has a lot of presence. She's a Little Iron Horse type. Luxurious is a word that comes to mind.

Canadian Horses are highly prized for their temperaments. L is very smart. She's also very ...sensible. Everything about her is reassuring to a rider. Oh, it wasn't always that way. I'm the only rider she's every carried. I trained her (under the supervision of my trainer) and, oh, there were times my hands shook so bad I could barely buckle her bridle. Riding her was that scary. She didn't mean any harm...just a young horse. Mare. Doing young horse things. She'd puff up like a cat and throw a tantrum. When she stomped both of her front feet you knew to hang on.

After becoming more comfortable and starting some trail work outside of the ring I'd gone to mount up near the barn. I climb on board and, *just* as I swing my leg over her back, the heel of my right foot over the cantle, dead middle of her back, she *leaps* into a dead run. I'm hanging on for dear life. Yelling "HO! HO! HO!" while she ran the length of the barn. As fast as she could. While someone in the barn yelled back "Merry Christmas!". Very funny. Actually it was. She stopped, I hoisted my sorry butt into the saddle. And she never did that again. Young horse stuff.

Whatever issues we'd had, we always remained engaged. There was always "conversation". We had that going for us and *that* is 100% Canadian Horse!

If horses are your thing, get to know a Canadian Horse sometime.

Snow!

We had our first real snow of the season over the weekend. We've had a few light dustings here and there but this was the first snow that amounted to anything.

Sunday 25 January
I don't mind the snow so much. L loves the snow!

Yay
I really *hate* the cold. This was enough snow to cover the treacherous frozen ground so we got out there and rode for the first time in weeks.

I used a saddle. Sometimes L gets a little frisky charging around those snow covered fields. It was so nice to get out there and ride. I see lots of animals follow our trails in the woods. We used to follow the deer trails. Then we started making our own trails. The New England woods can be very deceptive. They appear to be quite thick, and they are, but down on ground level they can be surprisingly open. It's because of all the shade. So now I see the deer and the coyotes are out there using our trails!

An epic blizzard is forecast for tonight and tomorrow. And apparently the population is in a panic. Supermarkets open extra hours being stripped clean. I don't get it. I *really* don't get it. This is coastal New England. We can have crippling storms almost any time of year. In the winter we have blizzards. In the summer we have hurricanes. In the fall we have nor'easters. Spring is usually pretty quiet. So you keep candles handy. A couple days worth of canned food. And don't forget a good book!

One Bored Mare

L is a big, strong, healthy vibrant horse. There's no way I can work her long enough or hard enough to tire her out. I can ride hard for 3 hours and she's still fresh as a daisy. I've often thought we should maybe take up endurance riding! And...she's smart. So it's hard to distract her sometimes and keep her entertained.

Couple of months ago she began tormenting her stablemates in the night. Now, I think this is hilarious. She'd chew holes in her wall and peak at her neighbors through the holes. And of course then they'd scream and kick and she was really making her little sister P all kinds of upset. And obviously not everyone thought this was so funny. Besides. Not good for her to be chewing wood. After the *3rd* time a wall was kicked *down* I had to do something. Mares tend to have a lot of ...um, personality. Even when they're not in heat.

More hay wasn't going to help. She blows through hay like a demon. Besides. She's too fat. As a temporary measure we put her nighttime hay in a hay net so she'd have to work at it. And ...she got really mad. L isn't the kind of horse that would find a Jolly Ball very entertaining. Then there's those Likit things which are expensive and don't last hardly an hour.

L likes to nibble on things and flap her lips. You know that thing you do with your finger where you flap your lips? Well..L likes to do that. Sometimes she'll even furiously flap her lips on your forehead. And she likes to rub her teeth on rough surfaces. This time of year one of her favorite things is to (again, *furiously*) run her teeth up and down your jacket zipper. Try putting a bridle on when she's doing that! So I got her one of these...

The Pas-A-Fier
At first...she didn't pay it much attention. But then...one night..our barn manager noticed a quiet unfamiliar sound...in an otherwise pretty quiet barn. And I noticed the nubs getting chewed on a little and...the shaft where it sits in the brackets is shiny. And now the footing has been treacherous. All kinds of frozen ridges and sheets of ice under the snow. The horses have been in their stalls for almost a week now and it's very stressful. And that Pas-A-Fier has been rolling to beat the band all night long. No new holes in the wall. Nobody screaming and kicking in the night. I wish I'd bought two of them!

Fish Sticks Again?!

Yes! Fish sticks are a favorite!

Wild Atlantic Salmon Fish Sticks
This is my universal fish stick recipe you just can't beat.

• Fish. Whatever you like. Salmon, cod, haddock, halibut, pollock, trimmed into fish stick size pieces.
• Whole wheat flour
• 1 or 2 eggs depending on the amount of fish, beaten, with a tablespoon or 2 of water
• Whole wheat bread crumbs

Here's what you do:

Heat your oven to 450° F.
Season the fish with salt and pepper. Dust the fish in whole wheat flour, shake off the excess, dip into the beaten egg mixture, dip into the whole wheat bread crumbs to coat, put them a on a cookie cooling rack. Put the cookie cooling rack on a half sheet pan and put the fish sticks in a 450° oven for just 6 or 8 minutes. I follow the 10 minute per inch of fish rule and check early. When the breading goes golden brown and they barely start to flake they're done.

I've made salmon, cod, haddock, halibut and pollock fish sticks all with this single recipe. The salmon I find is especially good. Biting into a fish stick and finding salmon inside is just *crazy*. Of course you can use any kind of bread crumbs but I find bread crumbs from homemade bread will make a real difference.

Salmon Fish Sticks Up Close. Ridiculously good.
This is the very same recipe I use for homemade Filet-O-Fish. I use a sandwich sized fish fillet and I do the exact same thing with it and have it on a bun. With <gasp>cheese. Aw c'mon, who doesn't like a Filet-O-Fish?

Mix some mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish and lemon juice for a nice homemade tartar sauce. For salmon I mix up a sauce using mayonnaise, dill, a splash of lemon juice and a little bit of maple syrup. [Edited to add]: And I put a spot of Dijon mustard in that mix for salmon.

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Hunting season is over! We're so very happy to be back in the fields and woods. We stay very close to the barn during hunting season.

Happy New Year!