amywink July 6th, 2010
I was renewing my membership to Heart of Texas Morgan club this week and naturally, they asked for my “farm name”. I don’t really have a farm, but I have 2 horses. And I do have a “farm” address. Since Lisa has 2 bays, it’s easy to distinguish which two are mine: the red ones.
I spent Monday evening watching the pair in the sunset. They are developing a good, calm relationship. Blessing backs off when Will looks grumpy, but she doesn’t move very far off and he doesn’t chase her very far so she can move right back in close. Mostly, they graze close together and Will seems happy with his pasture mate, though he gets a little worried when it looks like she might be getting a treat.
This morning, I pulled out my new toy, a Mouse detail sander, and got to work on the cart wheels that have been sitting in the garage for, oh, two years. I got one completely sanded and am totally sold on the little sander! I’ll get to the second wheel later this week then start the staining and varnishing.
I finished painting all the bolts (lots and lots and lots of bolts). Now I have to decide whether to paint the nuts before I put the cart together or after. Given the chance of banging the paint up in the assembly process, I’m leaning toward painting after assembly. It might be tedious but I have to paint the bolt ends anyway.
I still need to order new springs and spring blocks later this summer but those will be the last parts I need. I’m hoping to finish getting this cart together by Spring 2011, so we can use it at the Heart of Texas Morgan Horse Fun Show in April. We’ll see if I can get there–and we’ll have to see if Will likes it!! If not, Blessing will be getting a very nice cart for driving single!
amywink June 13th, 2010
Saturday was a trying day. We gathered up the gear and horses early and headed over to Agarita Ranch for the Heart of Texas Morgan Club meeting/Plum Creek CDE Volunteer Appreciation Day. We were harnessed and hitched before 8:45 to beat the heat as best we could. We did have a clouds on our side and a breeze that dented the humidity. Will did very well for harnessing and hitching, much better than in previous attempts. He even stood steady and asleep while Mary got in the carriage so we have had significant improvement there.
Generally, he was very good but as we got started, and left Windy behind with Lisa, he became increasingly agitated and nervous to be out “alone”–though there were other horses within sight of him. Still, we managed and worked through some spookiness as we headed down the trails into the woods. The recent rains made for deep going in spots and we faced several ponds along the way. Will did not care to get his precious feet wet so driving became somewhat of a challenge as he tried to pretzel his way around the puddles. We also had a good lesson in bravery as we had to go by the Plum Creek Shooting Society’s shooting targets on one trail. Will passed the buffalo cutout with just a wary look, but as we got closer and closer to the mountain goat figure, he was less and less sure it was wise to go any further, edging to the side of the trail, ready for retreat, until I tapped him on with the whip and we were able to safely scoot past unscathed. In all of this he was fairly strong-headed and it took a fair amount of strength to keep his mind on his work. He worked up a heavy sweat as I tried to keep him in a reasonable trot. He was much more spooky and jumpy than usual and it was certainly a different experience driving him this way.
We were out a long time, over an hour and a half, in what turned out to be a little over 8K–according to the GPS–so I decided to call it quits and get him (and me) cooled off. Sure enough, he stood for a nice rinse off without his usual dancing around. I got him cooled off and scraped off and let him watch Windy head around the dressage arena as he dried off.
We also enjoyed standing for the group photo:
Then the trouble started.
I put Will in a stall and he proceeded to go absolutely nuts. He had a bucking, rearing, kicking, screaming temper tantrum!! All because he couldn’t see any other horses. He kept this up for much longer than he should have, banging and kicking even after I put hay and water in his stall. Once he spotted one of the other horses, he settled a little but, but he never did calm down fully until Windy returned to her stall next to him. He had been having a few issues trailering recently and this confirmed the problem: herd bound. Since he became the bottom horse in the herd, he’s been suffering a little hysteria, when we trailered him to the vet. He drives well alone and will leave the pasture happily with me so there are no other issues, except being stalled at Agarita alone. But this was a full-on nuts-o-rama incident that we’d need to figure out what to do about.
to be continued……