A Good Broke Horse

Taking full advantage of these mild days, I loaded up Blue this morning and headed back out to Branched Oak to work on the mapping for the Trail Challenge & Scavenger Hunt. I think I was abducted by aliens for a week, because I seem to have "lost time." I swore it was three weeks away and then today I wake up and look at the calendar and BAM! Just like that, I'm missing a week! I have a lot of work to do between now and then. Good thing I am one of those who work best under pressure because the pressure is on!

I have been using the GPS to record all the trails and then download to Garmin Connect to review. The above map is one of my most recent downloads and the trail shown at the top near the water is a major trail that will be used in the competition. Does anyone else see what I see? Can you imagine the instructions: "Turn left at the base of the penis and continue down the shaft until you reach the…." Yeah, you get the idea. This is going to be one high-class event, let me tell you!

You know how everyone is always looking for a "good BROKE horse." And we all know they are not easy to find. Heck, my Windy is a "broke" horse, but not always good. When I don't ride Windy, I usually load up Butter or Ginger because Case and John will ride more than McCain and I feel I need to keep their horses legged up, too, for their occasional rides. As time passed, I forgot about my "good broke horse" that seems to have unobtrusively moved to the back burner. That would be my Reggie Blue. Blue Boy. Blue.

You may or may not remember my blog about Blue a few years ago. Blue was four-years- old when we bought him in December of 2000. He was probably one of the most well-trained horses we have ever had. I, being a complete novice at the time, didn't know what he knew and have only discovered some of his buttons in recent years following lessons with Windy, no doubt confusing the poor boy all these years.

The first day we rode him at home, ten years ago, I was leaning down fixing my stirrup when John flew by me on Ginger. Blue's first reaction was to follow and took off. The reins, which I had left on his neck, fell to the ground and I was desperately trying to right myself in the saddle. In my panic, I recalled the girl I bought him from saying "he stops on one rein." At that time in my short horse life, I had no idea what that meant but reached down for the only rein I felt I could grasp and pulled. And it was like God himself put those reins in my hand. Blue stopped on a dime. With that one gesture, he earned my trust.

Blue's wonderful disposition and ease on the trail made him a favorite with my boys in those early years and throughout the years each claimed him as their own for a season or two. I moved on to other horses because I knew the boys were safe on Blue. McCain has pretty much given up riding and Case no longer appreciates Blue's choppy ride, so if he's not riding Butter, Ginger will be his second choice. Occasionally John will swing on Blue to bring the cows up.

When Windy became laid up with a swollen knee this past week and knowing Cowgirl Weekend is less than 4 weeks away, not 5 (remember, I lost a week in a space ship), I did a quick inventory of our herd to determine who is on the B Team just in case she can't make the trip. When I got to Blue, overweight and underworked, I thought "why not?" Four weeks is enough time to get him legged up and he is not only MY horse, he was my first Cowgirl Weekend horse. And like the Good Broke Horse he is, (who if he had a voice, would sound like Elvis) has stepped up to the plate again and has quickly become my Go-To Guy.


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On The Mend

Friday is my work-at-home day; first for work & then for the good of the household. Sheila, Kathy, Deb & I tried to do a Friday afternoon ride club this season, but spring rains interrupted our plans quite frequently, then the heat wave. Combine that with our busy schedules and it didn't happen like we had hoped. I can't believe that by next spring, Sheila most likely will be on the west coast...



The horses are quite literally outside my office window. The only way things would get better is if the dogs, who are literally at my feet, would quit farting! (What DID they eat yesterday?) Since I have kept Windy and Butter up here at the barn to watch Windy's wound, the other horses have stayed in the adjoining corral rather than go down to pasture even though the gate is open and they most certainly could. Being that they are the herd leaders and Windy and Butter are at the bottom of the pecking order, I didn't think it would matter to them that those mares weren't with them. I guess I was wrong. I ended up tossing them a bale of hay in the feeder last night, too.

I moved them all out to this side pasture early this morning. It doesn't have the best fencing, so don't use it much unless I am here to watch. The grass is long and thick there; they could graze there for a week, I'd bet.

Speaking of grass, ours needs mowed again. The last time we had to do it with the tractor mower because our garden tractor is eating $49 belts. We thought it was a bad belt so we bought another one. Nope. In about 2.5 hours that one was shot, too. So before we buy another $49 belt, JV needs to take a peek at WHY it is happening and fix that first. So we'll probably have to mow again with the tractor mower. Don't you just love acreage-keeping?



I had originally thought Windy's swollen knee was a result of being kicked. There was what looked like a small scrape above it. But the next day I noticed that wound was draining, so now I think she was poked with a stick or wire or something and actually wonder if a splinter might still be in there? So I picked up some Epsom salt salve to smear on it and started her on antibiotics.



There is still some swelling, but no oozing anymore. I do the water treatment, too. I guess I'll just wait and see. In the meantime, Blue has been getting some more saddle time. Taken out of semi-retirement, he has hunkered down and is doing his job. I realized I have missed riding the ol' boy and will start including him more often in the rotation. He is too nice of horse to leave out to pasture.

I have been perusing the internet looking for something to take the edge off Windy's next heat cycle, which will no doubt coincide with Cowgirl Weekend. In the comments section of that previous post, Kate said she has had some success with Mare Magic, a raspberry leaf supplement. I picked up a bag yesterday and started her on it. She seemed to eat it just fine with her grain. Since normally she isn't terribly awful when she cycles, hopefully this will be just the little boost she needs to help her through it more comfortably. I certainly wish I could use my HSA account at the vet supply store.

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