Friday, August 14, 2009

BOOOOOO!!!!!

I checked Brego's feather and he has scratches. Crapcrapcrap. It's just on his hind legs, but still.... his skin under all that hair has been BEAUTIFUL until now. He is due for an ivermectine worming and he was due for oiling (putting mineral oil on the hair to help protect it) so i scrubbed him up really well and oiled him. Most of the loose scurf came off but he lost some hair up high that almost looks like urine scald... but old. Like it is already healing some.

He was fine last week when I dug under there checking the skin.

This wet weather we have been having, ugh. I'm actually wondering if he DID get urine scald. When I got home from the hospital his legs were just nothing but muck and it was almost a week before I could rinse them off...because, you know, surgery and stuff.... but that has been almost a month now. *sigh* I hope it freakin' dries up around here. The mud is just getting annoying. My run in never dries (he peepees in there and it has just not been dry enough to dry it all out). Even when the rest of the ground is dry he likes to play in yucky stuff.

Luckily it is mostly along the front of his hind legs so it is easier to get meds to that than to the back. He has a little on his heels but it's easy to get to as well.

At least his fronts still look really good *knock on wood*. But I used up the last of my oil so I need to get some more this weekend.

On second thought....

PHEWWW!!! I got the temp round pen torn down and moved out into the yard so they can go back to grazing, was going to put up the new divider fence and just ran out of steam. Spent a couple of hours scrubbing gourds and fizzled out on the energy again. My endurance is still slowly coming back but isn't up to 100% and I forget that. So looks like Brego gets a day off because I am WILTED!

Tomorrow I'll get the rest of the fence done... and will have a bigger area to ride him in safely.

Fencing fun!!

I need to construct a more permanent divider to give myself an area to work the horses safely and since my round pen is not looking likely any time soon it should most likely be inside my barn lot. But I need my temp posts back for grazing the yard. So today will be a long day of fence work. Blarg. Plus I have been working on cleaning gourds for three days and still have about half of them to do.


And still going to ride my horsie again, but wait until later in the day so I don't ride when I am here alone. It's not like I am working him hard physically, so I don't think it being warmer will be an issue, other than the sweat under my helmet, lol.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

*grins like a fool*

...day two, more of the same. He got to wear a real saddle (since I was going to be asking for movement without someone helping I wanted the added security of the stirrups in case I had to push him and he tried jumping forward on me, which he didn't) and he walked on almost like a big boy. He was turning like a champ and we got a full circle of the round pen both directions (3 or 4 steps at a time, lol) and several circles both ways by the time we were done.

I keep it short and end on a good note, so after a whopping 15 minutes in the saddle I called it good after I got a whole 10 steps in a straight line.


For now I just let him move as long as he wants as long as he keeps moving, I won't start asking for stops until he is really forward moving willingly and without hesitation.

I was afraid that maybe yesterday i had not spent enough time on getting him to understand that leg pressure meant to move forward, but he responded pretty well today. I use verbal cues (driving habit) and start with leg pressure, then leg pressure and "walk on!" then more leg pressure and a cluck or kiss sound. The first few times I had to get to the clucking, but by the end he was going at leg pressure and "walk on".

I am not using a bit, mostly because my riding skills are rusty and even when they are not rusty they suuuuck. I don't want to accidentally hit him in the mouth if he does something unexpected. He is learning to give to pressure, I've been working on that since he got home and he is doing really well with it so I will keep using my home made side pull thingie for now.

I do need a thick fluffy saddle pad. The saddle fits him pretty well but I think more fluffy would be better than what I have now.

I tried my Aussie stock saddle on him. It fits through the withers and back but his sides taper off before the saddle does (hard to describe). It's close, though. He shouldn't be done filling out until he is around 6, and it will EASILY fit him just right if he thickens up even a small amount. With the right padding I could probably use it now, but it is heavier than my little pony sized english saddle and it's much nicer so I will hold off on trying to use it until Brego is much more solid in his training.


Oh my gosh. I rode my horse.


*passes out with delight*

Oh, we also got some experience with what it feels like when someone shifts their weight around in the stirrups and stuff. He didn't like it, but he was a good boy and after a few wiggles he went back to ignoring it. I mounted from the bucket but still used the stirrup. I think he is convinced that I have lost my mind, lol.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

It was like a wild rodeo!!!!

That is, if the "wild rodeo" is one of those tiny little things you see at small town "country days" where they can't even afford a stock company to come in so their "broncos" just stand there when the gate opens and yawn while dropping a hip and falling back to sleep.

Yes, after a month delay and two months of annoying poor Brego by fussing with him and doing weird things like jumping up and down next to him while holding on to his mane and wiggling all around while laying over his back... today was the big day. The first full on, leg on each side, lets go for a walk around the round pen RIDE. I longed him both ways first, which I normally don't do before riding because I dislike having a horse that needs longed in order to behave before work, but I figured putting him into his "I have to listen to mom" frame of mind would be a good idea.

Tsu was going to give me a hand because I suspected the biggest issue was going to be getting him to move, lol. I was right. I told Tsu ahead of time that if he started to move, LET HIM. Don't try to stop him or control him in any way, other than to get him to move forward when I say "walk on". Tsu, not having handled horses enough to be natural at it, was obviously a fish out of water but he did his part wonderfully. We walked around the temporary round pen once, all I did was ask him to walk on and bump him lightly with my heels while Tsu lead him forward and I kept him from dropping his head to graze.

Aside from one moment where he tried to slam on the breaks suddenly he did super!


If I was smiling any bigger the top of my head would fall off.

I didn't use the saddle, I used my bareback pad and breast plate. It's easier for me to slide off of if I want to get down quick. Plus it is more comfortable for both of us, but I look forward to getting on him with the saddle so I can ask him to move out more.

I can tell it has been a LONG time since I rode, I was only on him for like 5 minutes and my legs are jello. It felt weird, too, the last horse I rode was a massive clyde cross. Riding him was like riding a kitchen table, lol. It was a constant struggle to get any leg on him at all. Brego is much more reasonably sized. Tsu said we look like we were made for each other, but he might have just been telling me what I wanted to hear, lol.

Knitting project... CORN!!!!

At the rendezvous MIL had sent some really holey crochet pot holders and this ancient knit corn cob pan handle cover thingie. I spent about 4 hours looking at that thing, dinked around with it, did a few google searches for ideas and made this:

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Hehehehe, it amuses me so much.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Rendezvous, 2009

Well, after a year of preparation (on my part anyway, the guys mostly prepared in the last two weeks, hahaha!) last weekend was the big rendezvous at the gun club.

The fun started last week on tuesday when we went and set up our little A frames. We borrowed one from Ed, who was our Booshway for the weekend (that means the guy in charge of the rendezvous), and we made one ourselves from a canvas painters drop cloth, some trees made into poles and some waterproofing.

I spent most of the week getting things together to make sure i have everything I needed/wanted. Then friday we packed up and headed to camp. This was our little primitive camp where we intended to stay the entire weekend:

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However, we were delighted to hear that my father in law, Fred, was able to get a great deal on a used lodge... it is a 9X9 wall tent and it was an absolute life saver this weekend:

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Things started out overcast but we had good weather on Friday. Tsu got into the spirit of things by smoking his pipe by the bonfire:

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Fred invited my nephew, Jeremiah (AKA J.T.). He didn't have his own outfit so we borrowed one from our "fluffy" camping neighbor, Vern. The kids managed to have a great time playing without TV's, radios, video games, plastic toys or loud music (Jeremiah is the one in the obviously way too huge shirt, haha!):

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The guys managed to have fun by standing around BSing with each other and smoking:

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Trees were climbed:

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Tall tales were told:

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and firewood was carried in preparation for the night to come:

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The view from our campsite was a sea of canvas lodges and campfire smoke:

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As night fell it cooled down, and the temperature was just right for me to wear my lovely shawl, which was a gift from a friend (Isn't it just divine? She found the most amazing yarn and I had several ladies try to steal it, hehe!)

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Once night had fallen the camp lit up with the warm glow of fire light:

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On the rare occasion a flashlight was used it was almost jarring and disconcerting in it's coldness and white glare. Thankfully most everyone had enough lanterns that electric lights were only used when something very important got misplaced and needed to be found or when babies needed changing, hehe.

During the week the A Frames had been up we had a curious visitor check them out and leave behind clues to his identity:

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Last week I found two railroad lanterns for $3 each at the Family Dollar store in town. I can NOT believe how well they worked. Our lodge lit up at night looked warm and inviting:

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Dinner ended up being left over beef stew that Vern "forced" on us, followed by berry cobbler baked by Vern in Fred's Dutch oven. Our own supplies stayed packed away in our cooler hidden away beneath a wooden box because we were so well fed by everyone else who had left overs they didn't want to go to waste.

That night we attempted to sleep while Jeremiah attempted to keep us all awake. :-P The next morning we awoke to over cast skies that quickly turned to rain. Unfortunately we didn't get breakfast cooked before the rain hit. Since JT was now sleeping peacefully after keeping us up most the night ("Are you guys sleeping? I can't sleep. I really can't sleep. Are you guys awake? I'm awake. I can't sleep.") we took great delight in waking him up so we could roll up our bedrolls and move our seats inside to ride out the rain. Unfortunately the skeeters moved inside with us, so the guys spent the morning "smoking" them out while I read.

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Around lunch time we took a trip out of the camp to a local restaurant, then swung by home to feed the horses, check on the cats, and pick up Nigel from Grandma's house so he could come spend the next night with us at the camp.

The rain let up after mid-day, but Tsu was exhausted after almost 48 hours with no sleep. After much time spent pestering him, we finally got him to lay down and sleep. Fred took JT and they went to the shoot. I set out my trade blanket and spent some time pre-drafting wool to spin, and then spinning it as I chatted with window shoppers and explained why my dog looks... the way he looks. Many jokes were made about him being dinner, or whether or not he was a good "Gourd Dog". *groan, bad pun*

Around dinner time I woke Tsu up, and after eating steaks and 'taters and snacking on buffalo from more than one fellow camper we wandered down to see Judy about getting JT his own shirt and Tsu a hat. It was cooling off so Tsu put on his flannel. JT found a nice black shirt. Tsu found a beer. Getting them to smile and not make funny faces was not as easy as it should have been.

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After dinner we spent some time around the camp fire chatting and I worked on my yarn some more:

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Nigel was a bit freaked out at first, but once the rain stopped and it warmed up he had a grand time:

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One of our neighbors (who provided us with some buffalo the night before, and whose name I, unfortunately, always forget) stopped by to chat:

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Ed never bothered to put pants on that day. I guess as Booshway, pants are optional!

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Ben and his wife were there with their kids, so we will cut them some slack for the milk jugs sitting out exposed, haha!

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Ben usually gives folks a hard time about taking his picture, especially when he is in his war paint (which he didn;t have on this time, since the rain makes it get in his eyes, haha!), but he posed for Tsu this time, so now Tsu has stolen his soul!

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There was some trading going on, and our neighbor brought out his buffalo hides to work a deal with our other neighbor, Vern:

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Vern (sitting under the awning chatting with visitors) was delighted with the trade, he will be building a gun in exchange for a buffalo hide, and both traders feel they got the good end of the deal which is how you want those trades to turn out:

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After walking out to get pictures tsu came back to find me still spinning away:

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That night we managed to get Fred to take our picture together, we were waiting for the peach and apple cobbler to be ready to eat. Tsu had found some decoration for his hat.

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That night we crawled into bed, and shortly after bed time a storm hit. Through most of the night it poured rain, and thunder boomed around us. We kept our lanterns going to keep some of the moisture out of the tent, so it was quite warm inside but with the heavy rain and lightning we couldn't really open the tent up to get some airflow. Nigel slept through everything, and at one point I actually woke him up to make sure he was OK. He'd played and explored so much during the day that he was just exhausted. Shortly before dawn the storms let up and we all got some sleep.

Dawn came bright, hot and humid. But we were able to finally cook up our bacon. The guys CHEATED and used lighter fluid to get our fire going, but since our fire pit was full of water and every stick of wood was soaked i will not harass them too much about it. By the time we had full bellies the wind was coming through and starting to dry up the ground and our belongings.

Tsu opted not to shoot because he was tired and just wanted to hang out. Judy, who had come late to the Rendy because of being a brand new grandmother thursday evening, was finally able to set up her wares. I bought two shirts, two bodices, a pewter mug and a mortar and pestle... for $25 total!!!! But our weekend was coming to an end and it was time to start packing up.

Breaking down camp took most of the day. The heat became oppressive and after noon the shooting was over. Awards were handed out at 2pm, one of my gourd water bottles was included in the prizes. Because of the heat once the awards were over many people changed back into street clothes. I ditched my new bodice and my skirt and apron and ran around in just my new green short chemise and bloomers! Once we were packed we said our goodbyes and headed home, then once we had unloaded anything that could melt (and nothing else, because we were EXHAUSTED) we hopped in the truck to go get our other dog then head home to crash. Which totally didn't happen because we had friends drop in... and yet even as exhausted as we were, the visit was wonderful and I am glad they came by. We got our second (or third wind) but once they left I was passed out not too long after.

We still have to unpack the rest of our stuff and I have laundry to do but all in the all the weekend went beautifully. Even with the rain and storms (the storms were an awesome and amazing experience). I can NOT wait for next year.

My nephew was generally a pain in the butt, but I think this weekend was SOOO good for him, and watching his delight and enjoyment made putting up with having a kid around almost enjoyable. The vice president of the club gave him a fantastic hat (I forgot to get a picture, but it is really REALLY cool!) and he had so much fun just playing with his new buddy and doing outdoorsie things. Despite wanting to smack him several times I think it it was a great experience for him and hopefully he will become a part of the annual experience.

I had a lot of interest in my gourds and was able to discover what people like even though I didn't make many sales. The weather was NOT good for putting out trade blankets and we were really off the beaten path. Next year we hope to have a lot more stuff to sell, and will give up our back woods camp site to be closer to the communal bonfire where there is more foot traffic.

All in all the weekend was amazing and I look forward to next year. I'll be making JT a white shirt, that way he will have two shirts, and can wear the white one when it is hot out. I will be making myself two more skirts so I can actually change clothes next year, lol.