A 4 Legged Ballerina, a Show Stopper, a Jail Sentence?

Raising to be on your tip-toes (while dancing) is a Ballerina movement, right (at least that is what I see in the movies)?  So I was thinking maybe Lexi was telling me she wanted to dive further into the classical dance world when she kept executing the toe thing movement and hopping around....  

But wait, she is a horse.

You know how those equine minds work.  Devious, conniving, always planning...  So maybe she finally figured out if she hops on three legs, holding one so it hardly touches the ground and gives that pitiful look with her big blue (brown, really) eyes I will take pity on her and feel guilty about riding.  After all, she has really been overworked being ridden for about 6 hours in the last 6 months.....  Performed so convincingly that we ended our adventure at Middlefork Forest Preserve last Sunday after a little over an hour!  

But we can't have any such criminally deceptive behavior, so it's off to jail we go!

Funny looking bars there!  But look at her front left hoof with that funny bag.  After nerve blocks and X-rays, a bag of water is resorted to!  

Yeah, even though I thought it may have been her knee (skinned like she fell on them), a nerve block points to her foot and X-rays pronounce her clean of any bone problems, looks like a good old-fashioned abscess (pocket of infection started with a bruise) that is sealed in tight because of the really TOUGH sole - thanks to the dry weather and years of hoof supplement....

As I walked in today to check on her, she saw me (I prefer to think with loving eyes), took a deep breath and let out a big sigh.  Bored?  Relaxed?  At least out of the bugs!

So we are committed to finding a way to soften her hoof and getting the abscess to announce itself (no tracks to find on her sole at the moment!).

And here I was hoping for a ballerina horse - we (meaning ME) would be RICH!!!

You Want me to do WHAT? -- Yes, Blue - "Ride For Real!"

At long last, the traveling-with-horses season has officially begun.

The beginning (Ides?) of March saw us (Blue and I) traveling to Springfield IL for the Illinois Horse Fair (produced by the Horsemens Council of Illinois) for a weekend of both giving and receiving assistance.

While I helped to keep everyone warm on the outside in some of the older (historic) buildings of the Illinois State Fairgrounds, Blue (with a little help from me) helped warm people's hearts with a few fun romps in the arena under the guidance (egging on?) of Steve Lantvit of Steve Lantvit Horsemanship.

We manage to do most of the things in the pasture at home that Steve had us working on in the arena at IHF (but I can safely say no where near as smoothly as he would desire) - backing, side stepping, opening gates, dragging branches - Blue demonstrated (mostly with that devilish gleam in his eye I am sure!) that those and him were not meant to be in the same arena during IHF!



While one minute feigning dread at the rope "gate" and attempting to eat the gate the next, his crowning achievement was being chased by a blue barrel on a rope while being chased by 4 other horses/riders in front of a full crowd on Sunday morning!  What a rush!!!


We had a great time!  I learned a huge amount about working with Blue (and horses in general) and gained a lot of insight about my skill set.  It was a great weekend.

As Steve Lantvit says - "Ride for Real"!

Peek A Boo over the Fence

Yes, this is a(nother) story about Blue!  And my grandkids.  And some CHICKENS.

There has been a big (to a chicken) brown box (BBB) setting just a feet away from the pasture fence for a couple of months now.

And for the last couple of weeks, some additional strange noises emanating from said BBB - chicklet cheeps!  It must be driving the horses crazy how a BBB could be making such noises (Blue has been known to dance in front of the dog's pen to get them going, but he can see them directly!).

This afternoon, Kim (daughter-in-law) and grandkids (Macy & Chelsey) were feeding (aka "playing with") aforementioned chicks - IN the BBB - and noticed Blue coming over to the fence with eyes riveted on the BBB and whichever one of the girls was outside.

He came over to the fence and was cocking his head to see around fence boards.  Obviously he was interested in all of the above and wanted more loving human interaction.  So the girls walked to the fence - and Blue walked back about 3 feet.

The girls retreated - and Blue walked up to fence.

The girls walked to the fence - and Blue retreated...  Get the drift?  Happened multiple times.

After several repetitions of this "dance", Blue decided he definitely had achieved his goal of diverting the attention of the humans (sort of smiled - like he won - and looked like he giggled) from the BBB and walked to the fence with the girls at the fence, letting them get close to him for his well deserved hugs and kisses.

Yup!  Blue knows how to attract the girls!

CAUTION - NOT a fun post! I HATE WILD WEED EXTREMISTS!

A week has elapsed since the most fateful, almost worst day of my life, occurred.

  It was a day when this: 

2' Steel Stake in ground 2' from edge of country road hidden by tall Wild Weeds (nature loving neighbors planted Wild Flowers and did not want road district to mow Wild Weeds)

produced this: 

Granddaughter in hospital bed after being thrown from horse and grazing steel stake as she fell.

It began on Thursday after school.  With warm weather and later sunsetS, granddaughter wanted to ride, so I promised her we would ride Friday when she got home from school since she had not completed her homework yet that day.

Friday came.  She was so excited she wore her riding gear to school!  As soon as she got off the school bus she found me and we mounted up and meandered down the lane.  Warm day and horses with long fur coats make for lazy horses.  We rode down the road, round the corner and into the woods where we have had a longstanding invitation to ride to the river flood plain.

We met dogs.  Lots of dogs.  LOTS of dogs.  In a pack.  Which ran to greet us, swarmed us, surrounded us, and then ran off.  Granddaughter's horse stood still, planted, and stared.  NOT at dogs, but at owners yelling at dogs to return to them.  BUT, the dogs ran home, and granddaughter's horse ran with them.  And continued to run.  At top speed.  Galloping.  To the road, down the road, and stopped and twirled at top of hill when she realized her companion horse was not with her - held back by me to avoid making the horse run faster....

Hearing a 7 year old yelling "Grandpa" while riding a galloping horse dodging trees going through the woods is VERY heart rending.  VERY.  EXTREMELY!

As I exited the woods, her horse is standing at top of rise around corner, looking for me.  As soon as she spots me, horse leaves once she sees that -I- see granddaughter laying along edge of road right in area where steel fence posts are.  As I gallop across field, I see granddaughter flopping on ground.  I reach her, terrified of what I am going to find - a steel stake through the chest of an 8 year old.

But as I approach, she is rousing and crying hysterically.  I pick the life size doll up to keep her still, noticing the blood on the side of the head...  Slightly less terrified myself, my whole mind is occupied with relief that there are no holes punctured through her body (including the base of the skull) and my world becomes one of getting emergency help to the terrified flopping 7 year old and get her on the road to recovery.

One week later and she is on the road to full recovery.  Got to miss a week of school (she missed PE).  Keeping a 7 year old calm and quiet for a week for brain recovery takes a gaggle of adults to manage!

And in the end, I hate wild weed (flower) loving extremists who think it is more important to protect their wild weeds in an illegal manner at complete disregard for human safety and the township road commissioner and township board that allowed it to continue after I warned them of just such a danger!

Close to home and a GREAT Day

Two days ago.  It was warm(er) and the cold front was moving in so we (Blue, Lexi and myself) escaped for a short jaunt - into the back (West) 40 (maybe closer to 60).  They were both as good as gold, possibly more relaxed than usual because they were right next to each other (I ponied Lexi to give her exercise).

As we rounded the corner of the corn field, it was approaching sunset.  The sun was working to get through the bare branches of the trees still in winter stage, over the bridge on the road right next to our field of play and bouncing off the water for a great end of the day.  What made this day even better than normal was that it was the first time in almost 9 months I had been able to ride after getting on from the ground multiple times pain free (at least joint wise - my muscles still protested) and finish up the ride without pain lingering and making the evening only comfortable with strong drug assistance!  A great day indeed!

A horse adventure - Blue is the Star even though he is not ridden!

Wow!  That month passed in the blink of an eye!  While without a horse, I made an extended trip to the warm(er) south and enjoyed time at the beach, at NASA looking at HUGE fire breathing dragons, touring historical sites, enjoying forests and FAMILY (my sister lives in Florida, what can I say?!?)!  I had some amazing experiences and hope to post tidbits about them, but a HORSE related experience since my return has me on the edge of my seat today.

I stole time away from all sense of duty to go riding this afternoon.  After all, it's almost 70F in the middle of February - what sane horse person with the appropriate sense of priorities (to be with a horse) could resist?!  And of course, my chosen 4 legged drive unit was Blue, who else!!!???

To back up a moment, leading up to my pre-departure, I had some medical issues (and yes, weather issues) that prevented me from riding since mid October, so Blue and company had gotten pretty fat and sassy (Blue gained 6 notches on his rear girth - I think my children/grand-children were ABUSING them while I was gone - by overfeeding!!!)!  So since my return the middle of last week I have made a point of riding him every day - starting slowly with 30 minutes and working up to my usual multi-hour jaunt - for both his fitness and my fitness.

Today I went to the barn and called them in - Blue led the pack (of two) to the barn - in the middle of the afternoon.  While this seems like a 50-50 probability it really is not - he follows Lexi and SHE does not get enticed into the barn in the middle of the day for what is sure to be a period of work - I ALWAYS have to chase them in!  So when he lead today, this was a definite sign of his old self - he had been VERY cool to the reception of my return.

So having gone through the 30 minutes of grooming (ride yesterday, winter coat, warm day = sweaty horse, then rain, then a BIG roll in the MUD!), saddling, and walk out of the barn.  But NO - he is sore on his right front..  Bummer!  So, big sigh, put him back in the barn, untack and then repeat with Lexi - not quite as muddy,  but my arms were already tired!

Success!  Hop on (okay, knee creaking, groan of a mount...), go for a nice warm up ride (45 minutes, she had been ridden only once since my return), untack, put horses back out in pasture.

Still a nice warm sunny day.  My son and granddaughter are hanging around and I come up with a plan for some great bonding time - target practice!  I came back from my journeys with these neat 6" rectangular targets made out of "ballistic, self-healing plastic" (translation, rubber) that move when you hit them - sort of cat and mouse.  So we walk to the other side of the horse pasture and commence making loud bangs, etc...  Blue and company are pretty use to these things by now (we have neighbors that also enjoy gunnery), so they don't get too excited, but by the time we are finished, they have moved sort of to the opposite corner of their drylot and are looking at us - not in a sleepy fashion - as we trek back to the house.

About 50' into our 100 yard journey, Blue bounces his head up and down, sort of like dislodging a fly - no movement from Lexi.  I pause.  Something about this strikes me as unusual.  Oh YEAH!  We had not noticed fly ONE (yet).  I SPEAK to Blue in greeting.  He nods his head twice.  Pause.  I speak again.  I continue my one sided verbal conversation as we traverse the rest of the pasture.  And after each of my sentences HE nods his head - quite animatedly - expressing....?

That he is perturbed with me for riding someone else...?  That he wants to be invited to the gunnery range next....?  Or wondering what he did wrong to not be ridden...?

I prefer to think the latter!

He amazes me all the time!

Off into the FOG!

I finally escaped the hospitals, rain, snow, ice, sleet and fog on Monday after waiting out all the above and then enjoying some last moments with my children and grand-children.

After spending the first night in a foggy alcove next to Rend Lake

a traveling stop of exploration to Cape Girardeau along the mighty Mississippi was an appropo stop in such wet mugsome weather.  Some of the burgs I have visited hosted a much more varied and violent past, this was much milder, if one discounted the floods (caused by the aforementioned mighty Mississippi), fires and Civil War violence!  The Red House

 played the quintessential anchor point for this part of American history and includes the likes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  Of interesting note to me (if no one else) is that one of the major reasons for the L&C expedition was that the French, whom the US bought this territory from, didn't really know the boundaries so L&C were sent to better define them AND the timbers in the Red House are VERTICAL in lieu of HORIZONTAL - something I have never seen recreated!

Tomorrow is onward and DOWN to the warm(er) south!