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Sunday, October 28, 2012






Sunday... the only day I have off each week.

No lessons today!
I am about to pull out with the trailer to get a team of horses... brothers... bringing them back home for a bit before they go cross country here pretty soon.

I have my kids with extra oil for the day for heat.
I am leaving them to the weather for the daylight and then will put their rain coats on them for night due to 60mph winds expected, along with rain and snow.  only 1 -2 inches expected but Sweet Pea never has a good winter coat! Navarre has his muscle issues still so he needs to use his energy to keep his muscles loose instead of just staying warm.  A breathable rain coat, not 100% water proof will help them both make it through the night easier.  I will evaluate day light applications as EACH day rolls around and see what they are in for.

IT is DANGEROUS to have some horses in blanket! Please never leave a horse unattended if they are not used to blankets...

Make sure they fit properly... no slack in the neck, belly, or rear section!  You horse could break a leg!   Although my kids wear the same size blanket I have each tailored to them... SweetPea is lanky in the belly and chest, so adjustments have been made...   While Navarre is lanky ONLY in the neck section as his belly is more round and tail end more wide... His chest is much wider than SweetPea's but... his neck is lacking that filled out and slides back on his withers... not good so again adjustments have been made. 

You don't wear things that make you trip, fall, or cause injury!   Don't expect your horses to change their habits just because they have on a blanket! Legs,Feet, shoes, and boots get caught up in blankets.  Your horse can't be responsible for everything!   Do it but do it right!

Make sure that belly strap is not hanging down AT ALL... make sure the leg straps are crossed and at the belly not hanging so they get caught up when laying down etc...

Think it through if you have to do it!

My love to the world... and too all the horses that need help with this east coat weather setting in.
AegF

Tuesday, October 23, 2012





Navarre is doing better as of last night... He and SweetPea were RUNNING around the pasture!   Not a big deal but in the dark I can only see Navarre and not her.  She is your typical red horse, as they ran, kicked, and played it made me very happy to hear all the silence in between foot steeps, as this means Navarre is starting to loosen up a bit.  BUT not being able to see them was a little un-nerving in the dark; hoping Sweet Pea didn't decide to kick the crap out of me by accident. 

They didn't ...

But I now have a flashlight with me as well.  I had just laid down my lantern as it is too big to carry along with a bail of hay to the pasture.  A flashlight can dangle from my wrist allowing me a little more site in these situations.

One can never be too safe!



An off post...
But as I was walking from the car through the woods to the barn in the pitch black of night late feedings are a norm now;  away from any source of light, no houses seen through the trees as of yet.  A perfect view of the stars!  I was thinking to myself... How did I ever get secure enough to do this?  As a child I RANNNNNN to the back pasture to throw out the days scraps next to the garden, which was JUST on the EDGE of the old security light in the back yard. This darkness was enough to put me into panic!   And our only neighbors were family!  Aunt on one side Uncle on other... It wasn't like I was any type of a neighborhood, any type of danger... AT ALL.... But what lurked in the dark was enough to make my heart race faster than my feet back up the hill through the bright light and up the stairs to the back door into the kitchen.  Never failed I was out of breath taking out the scraps.

While each night, I park my car, get out my lantern, walk a longer distance through the woods where fox, field rats, ferrel cats, mountain cats, and bear all lurk in the dark by nature.  I feel more a part of this closed in leaf crunching trail than I ever did that open back yard lit by a security light down to the back pasture of garden area!   As if some strange animal lurked around our house?

Funny how our brains change
Accept our environments and our needs.

I could walk through the high grass pasture to the barn, unlocking one gate but the grass is more alarming to me than the crunch of leaves, the new grass emerging from seed, and the moss on the rocks climbing up to the barn... it is more like the back yard of my child hood.... in my mind the grassy pasture is full of snakes, rats, field mice, and other things that would bite at my ankles; as if they are more dangerous than the larger animals I see driving up the mountain to the estate?  Mind, Brain or Heart... it's funny when you think about it.  


Life... It is how you see it, how you choose to function in it...
It is and has been what you make it!

AegF




Monday, October 22, 2012



Well I got to save face yesterday! While I did go into Wal-Mart I did NOT have to purchase from them.  They did infact have a cheaper price on my needed items, but almost everyone out there will price match if it is posted on the internet of which walmart is! SO Got my computer under 300, got my phone at a matched price, AND got a percentage off accessories due to all my hard work etc... ha ha ha... basic but at this point in life / (with our lovely economy) every penny I spend is accounted for. 

Saved almost 100 dollars doing my homework, making a circle of the stores and recording their prices.  All stores were within a 2 block area of eachother so no wasted gas etc...   We got to eat out together yesterday!   Yea.... for fish tacos!

Navarre was a little better yesterday thanks to the help of a friend, a natural solution, a higher power, and having an open mind. 

While I  truely believe in acupuncture, message therapy, reki, and healing touch and I live in a area FULL of it... no one wants to work on my horse?  So I'm having to do it myself. 

So more learning even after I get my work down pat... we are going to focus on learning more techniques to keep Navarre at a more relaxed (muscular) state. 

I'll explain more later... I want to have my ducks all in a row before I start getting hatefull email about what I am doing or not doing for my baby!

Life... ? We all have different ideas of what it is.
I hope you enjoy yours! if not ... change IT! NOW!



Sunday, October 21, 2012

Well... today is one of those days that while I am off work it is still ALL work!

Wal-mart... as much as I can not stand them.  then Best Buys... HHGreg then Radio Shack before I go to the mall to price out computers, and phones.

I shall come home down load my e app and then ... practice my full presentation ... record it send it to my boss and then do my horse things for the day.

Navarre will NOT be having lessons any more, it will likely be just a walk up the mountain in hand with me.

Sweet Pea on the other hand my get a short bareback ride up the mountain as I work on my core muscles.

Thus the life of a new insurance agent... work work work and no play!

Life still goes on.
Pirates' Lair still needs my daily assistance,
Horses still have to be fed early and late
House still needs to be cleaned
and Dishes still have to be cleaned and put away.

I only cook twice a week now ... so the dear husband had to do what he can for himself now a days... BUT ... it shall all settle back down as I start to grow my client base and have more referrals of my own to work... or so the cards say... ?

Life...
Survival...
and what little love we can get from it!
AegF

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Well... As Navarre applied himself nicely Sunday he is paying for it desperately today!   As of last night he started to tie up again.  I've done all a mom can do... I have heated his feed and made it into a mush... and I have Crushed 15 of the 500mg Methacarbamol tablets from the vet for just such an occassion.  I am hoping his back will not be as tight when I get home tonight so I do not have to give him the other 5 tablets.

His back is tight, his butt is like a brick! He can barely get his neck down to the ground to eat.  He figured it out though.... if standing down hill he get reach his hay... he did not finish his mushy feed this morning (rice bran with all his suppliments) I did however add an extra scoop of our special vitamine E with NO Selenium! very important!!!!

I will do my best to keep him happy... but working a new job that requires 9-9 Wednesday through Friday and all day Saturday it is NOT going to be easy.

My husband is a great help, but has little knowledge of horses and they are not his thing.  Not anymore than his MV Agusta F4 was ever mine!   I enjoyed looking at it; but I would have NEVER taken it for a ride or even gotten on the back of it ( just not that stupid).  Much less care if it was leaking oil (unless it was in my house) Thus he is the same with horses... so... I'm on this one alone.

Life is always a teeth kicker, when you JUST think you may have things settled.  BUT the good news is! We have been through this before... this time I just can be with him through the pain.  His pittiful grunts, his reaching with his painfully stiff neck, and his back legs that barely bend are just a few of the things I wish I had time to help message and relax for him, but not this time around little boy... I'm doing my best to be there as much as I can.

Amber.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Navarre's feet are FINALLY starting to look a little better.

Today was lesson day for Navarre.  He got worked into a sweat with his new coat coming in nice and strong.  He did very well as did the young lady riding him... with her eyes closed. 

I was of course only lunging them at a walk, but this was a great way to give him guidance and allow her to work on her balance in a controled environment.

I trimmed his frogs back got into some of the more damaged tissue as the frog's have grown out nicely as have his feet.

Life is good!   I have been working six days a week, not making it home till eleven or twelve at night.  Thus I have had little to no time to create new post.

BUT I found myself cleaning horses giving lessons and coming home/ making myself something to eat and enjoying how stinky I smelled.  I eventually had to take a shower, because although I LOVE my horse drenched clothes, all of our seating in the house is leather.  Because it takes on a smell for years to come I had to sit on other fabrics threwn over the chair just so I could relax. 

It was so nice to smell like a horse! Something I miss!
I can not wait till life settles enough I can ride again.

My love to the world...
AegF

Thursday, October 11, 2012





Life is funny!

I got in hay the other day... and it was hard to get out of the barn much less into my little stalls etc... The owner of the barn has more hay this year than he has EVER had in the past 8 years.  My hat is off to him, I am happy they have such a stash as I normally worry about their horses ( I know not my job... but I do )

I got just a few bails  about 30 into my place and got the kids settled ... Went back yesterday morning and Sweet Pea had pulled down two bails, shewn them all in the barn.  Navarre was so comfortable using it as bedding he didn't even get up to say hi when I drove up! 

He jumped when I made it to the barn! He knew he would be in trouble.... So no feed for them yesterday... and now I have a nice dirty stall of pee and poop to clean up on Sunday. By the time Sunday rolls around it will be a truck load of a mess and take two bottles of pinesol to make it livable again.   Sunday? yep this is now my only day off, so house and barn will all have to crammed into Sundays from here out!

My age ... The change in weather... Yes all the arthritis the physicians say I should be taking care of  is locking me down, cramping me over, and I feel like I'm 64 instead of 44.  BUT my mind knows I will not be cramped in the back seat of a tiny car for long.  The weather will eventually be cold and thus my body aches will settle into a normal raw tissue of sand paper in my knees.  As of today sand paper is a good feeling while the urge of a hot hunting knife being jammed around like a cortizone shot without the deadening is the message my leg and into my right hip is screaming as of the past two days.    Hiking to the barn is actually a relief! I'm not moving around enough while I am training for this new job.  But I'm getting home at 11pm and last night 12am  with little to no time to stretch out the joints before going at it once again. 

LIFE.... painfully funny!

We all have our aches and pains... and we all know if you have horses... you have more to come!

My love to the world
AegF

Thursday, October 4, 2012

yes... time has pasted with no post...

Navarer has been picked three times a day as we have had rain for the last 4 days... and the ground is still a muck...

I will gladly post more when I start to get the area and his feet under control.

Our little community lost 10 horses last week to a barn fire.
So much attention to hay storage as rushed the area and thus my place to put hay is being questioned; meaning I too must find another place to put my hay.

I do however stack my hay where it touches nothing of structure OTHER than the VERY BOTTOM row of which I lay on it's cut side.

My stacking is..
Five on cut side
four horizontal
four vertical
two horizontal with two vertical in the center
and then tie it together on top with
two vertical on edges and the horizontal tieing them together on top...
this allows me 21 bails a stack and I can go ONE higher but did not this year due to kids playing on the rope near my stacks...

? at any rate...
studying for work...
researching containers for storage on my estate... which will require much prep this spring IF I can get it done.

My love to the world
an update on WR Prince Navarre ASAP!
AegF