End of 2010 reveiw

The word for the year is abscesses! Boy did I have a lot of them to deal with! Gypsy kept getting abscess after abscess. I became the master of the hoof soak and wrap combo. I hope 2011 will be abscess free! I was able to start riding Gypsy lightly in between all the abscesses and even take her to a clinic. I hope in 2011 we make it to more riding clinics. With Gypsy on the road to being a sound horse, I feel confident in being able to do more fun things with her.

I started Doodles to saddle! All by myself! We've had our good moments and our bad but all in all I'm super happy with Doodles! I never did get to take her to a clinic or event, but I wasn't sure if she was ready. This year we will be ready for some fun things. Doodles also helped me get over my fear of starting a horse by myself. I had started many horses to saddle before Doodles but had a nasty spill off one of my greenies years ago and lost my confidence in starting young horses. She has helped restore some of my confidence in working with horses. I will be forever grateful to her for that. She has taught me that I know more then I think I do and to believe in myself.

We bought a truck and horse trailer! That is something I have wanted ever since owning horses but was never able to buy.

The barn was finished! After being started by someone who didn't know anything about barn restoration, it was almost destroyed. Thankfully we then found the man who has done the amazing and saved our 100 year old barn. It couldn't have come out nicer! I am so happy with the new setup and best of all, it's safe for the horses! Not only did he do a wonderful job on the barn, he also worked on the house and became almost like family.

We had the dying christmas trees cut down. This place used to be an old christmas tree farm but the trees were never taken care of so they were dying. We had them all cut down so we could make more room for the horses. Then after the cutting of the trees, we had to get all the stumps pullled and land bulldozed. We eneded up making room for a wonderful riding ring and more pasture space. We put up new fence posts and ran new hotwire. The land clearing was a huge job and more money then we expected but it does look wonderful now without the sad dying christmas trees.

We seem to have fixed the mud problem that plagued me all last spring. That was in part due to the bulldozing and reworking the land.

We went bitless! And we love it! Doodles is almost always ridden in a bitless bridle and Gypsy has been being trained for it was well.

My jeep died and had to be taken away to jeep heaven :( I miss that jeep.

Eve tore her ACL and needs surgery. One of the few sadder events of the year and as it is a more recent event, it is the start to my new year. I can only hope things will look up for my sweet Eve and she will make it through her surgery and rehab.

2010 was a year of many changes, some that we weren't sure of and then grew to like, others that we wanted and needed to happen. I hope 2011 treats us well. I welcome whatever may come and hope for the best.

Goodbye 2010, welcome 2011!

Surgery for Eve.

We got approved for the care credit for Eve. She's going into surgery on the 10th. I hope this is the right decision. I think it is, but one never knows. She had a very hard day today, the vet didn't get her meds in until late and I've been out. She seems a bit more comfortable now that she's got her meds but she's still having a hard time. Poor girl.

The Girls are doing good. Gypsy hasn't taken a lame step since this cold weather hit, which is nice. Watch, I bet I just jinxed myself. *Sighs* It's always something with animals. I just want things to go smoothly with my animals for once. I do everything to keep them healthy and happy and they still get hurt anyways. I think I'll bubble wrap everyone. Too bad bubble wrap won't help with the internal stuff though, just the bumps and bangs.

I have some time off this weekend (yay) so I'm going to try and go riding. I need a nice horsey ride, even a bad horsey ride will help my mood. I need to get the girls back into training. I've been slacking because of the cold. It's more then time for me to get back on those horses!

Torn ACL, what a crapfest.

Eve, my sweet little pittie has a torn ACL. We have been thinking about surgery but she is 9 years old and we're just not sure if it's the right thing to do. I want to have the surgery done for her, but money is a problem. We just don't have the $1,500 to do it. Is it worth having the surgery done in an older dog? No one knows. Just like any thing, there are no guarantees. I hate seeing her in pain and other then her leg, there is nothing wrong with her. The vet said she is healthy otherwise. For now we are just keeping her on meds to make her comfy and trying to budget the money. I think I know where my tax refund is going....

There is a care credit that we are going to apply for, which I think would be a good thing to have anyways. Plus some girls at work are helping me to make a "chip in" page for Eve on facebook where people could donate money to her. I hate to do that, to me it feels like begging, but my co workers say it's ok because it's helping an animal that may not get a fair shot without the money. Then they brought up the fact that I have helped so many other people with thier dogs,cats and horses that if I need a little help I should ask, others may be willing to help me back. I hope that's the case. Even if just a few people help out, it would make a diffrence. Though I keep wondering why anyone would want to help me and my silly old pitbull. I hope this isn't an omen for what's in store for 2011. What a crappy way to start off the new year.

We made it through the blizzicane!

The storm wasn't really as bad as they said it was going to be. We didn't get as much snow as they thought. The winds, however have been bad. It's still very windy out and COLD! Frozen buckets, frozen toes, frozen fingers, the horses don't seem to mind the cold and are doing well with it. At least I got everything plowed out. I did a crappy job behind the barn and I may need to clean it up tomorrow. The plow has been acting up and making life harder for me. I kept having to get out of the truck and mess with the connections because sometimes the plow wouldn't lift back up. It's a huge pain in the ass! I need to have it looked at.

I kept the girls in the barn for most of the day because of the snow and winds. I don't blanket them and I thought today would just be too yucky to be out for long. I got out of work early and was able to let them out for a while. They loved playing in the new snow. The first thing they both did when they got out was roll of course! Then they chased each other around and played. It was nice to see. I didn't get any pics though, I wish I had.

I did however get some pics yesterday of the barn I thought I would share.






I will try to get some snow pics tomorrow.

The first big snow!

See that little purple spot on the map? The spot that's going to get 10 to 14 inches of snow? That's where I am. The Governor has already declared a state of emergency and it just started snowing. It's going to be a crazy one folks! The weather people are calling it a blizzicane or something like that. It's a cross between a blizzard and a hurricane I guess. Thankfully the barn is ready for the first big snow and so am I. We brought in hay and grain into the barn today. Brought wood into the house, filled water buckets and jugs. We are ready to be snowed in. Except that we're never really snowed in.

I can't get snowed in anymore with this! The plow has been on the truck for about a week now, ever since our first little dusting. I'm ready!

Merry Christmas!

That pic was from last year. This year I have been too tired to do much of anything. I got up at 5:30am on Thursday, worked, then had to dj at the club's nightmare before Christmas night, got home at 2:30am got a few hours sleep and then had to get up at 5:30 on Friday morning. We did our Christmas Eve dinner, but never made it to the lobsters. We were all tired. Today, at some point, we will eat them, though I'm still full from all the munchies we've had.

My wonderful boyfriend got me a saddle bridle set for Christmas. I was kinda surprised by that. I saw the box sitting in our room, he had put a blanket on the box to hide it but part of me kept saying to myself that it looked like the perfect saddle sized box. I kept telling myself no, that he would never buy me a saddle, but sure enough, it was a saddle! It's a Spanish style saddle used by bullfighters. It will be perfect for the SCA events I go to.

I know it looks kinda funny, but it's really very nice. I know most people would think it's the worst saddle in the world, but when you do SCA stuff, it's perfect. It fits Gypsy perfect, which surprised me. My boyfriend even proudly announced that it has full quarter horse bars, even though he doesn't know what that means. It was really cute. He was so excited for me to try it on the girls. It really does fit Gypsy perfect, on Doodles it's kinda big. Maybe if she fills out some more it will fit her better. The only problem I have now is that none of the girths I have will go all the way around Gypsy. Gypsy is a barrel, I swear. I'm gonna go to the tack store tomorrow and get a draft girth. I really need to start riding Gypsy again to get her back in shape!

My Mom got me a heated water bucket. I'm really happy about that one too since I'm worried about the girls not drinking enough water. Not having to chip frozen buckets out is going to be soooo soooo nice. I also got some horse and dog books which I'm mega excited about reading, some new sheets and new pjs. Tonight will be a comfy night!

Also, the barn is now done!!! It's been over a year and I'm super happy that it's finally done. I need to take some pics. I need to put batteries in my camera. There are a few finishing touches that need to be added before it's truly done done, but it's mostly all there. Now it's just some more electrical stuff and putting the bars on Doodles stall.

I hope everyone is having a wonderfull and safe Christmas! I will try to post some pics of everything soon. I have lots of time off this week which will be nice since I really need it.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Bah Humbug!

I have to admit, I'm lacking the Christmas spirit this year. I feel like I'm just going through the motions of decorating and wishing everyone a "Happy Holiday". Maybe it's because I'm in retail and working in retail sucks the Christmas right out of you. I normally decorate the barn and hang stockings off the stall doors. I've done none of that this year. The most Christmasy thing in the barn is the all Christmas music radio station I leave on for the horses at night. To me Christmas is all about the all mighty dollar and since I don't have a lot of those (thanks to the horses) I feel left out of this holiday. I'm trying to get into the spirit of things, I really am, but for some reason, the magic just isn't there for me this year. Maybe I need to help out at some animal rescue or something just to give something. Sadly though, even time is something that I don't have a lot of and even giving that is a lot. I know I will have to work on Christmas Eve, and won't be home until late. Our family normally does a big dinner on Christmas Eve and this year we may not be able to do that. My family takes a back seat to my job and customers who have waited until the last minute to buy dog food. Not only does my Christmas get messed up by my work but my work also wants me to be happy and cheerful about this. So yeah, while most people are enjoying time by the fire with their family, I will be with my work family on Christmas Eve wishing crabby people "Happy Holidays" while they shop for that last minute hamster gift or that last minute bag of dog food. My advice to people who do their Christmas shopping late on Christmas Eve, please be nice to the people working, they don't want to be working on Christmas Eve, it's not their fault that you waited until the last moment to buy gifts and that the store is out of that hot sale item that everybody wants. Remember the niceties. Please.

Escape #2

So again the girls got out. This time though they didn't go very far, only in our front yard. The neighbor had noticed them and came over (again) to let me know they were loose (again). Another wonderful 6am wake up call. I can't wait until I can get my fence charger hooked up correctly so the next time they try this they get a really good zap. The back of the barn is getting close to being done, thankfully. Once that is done I can hook up the fence all proper like.



The girls are loving the beet pulp. It's quite easy for me to feed and I don't mind the small amount of prep work it takes. They seem to look forward to their warm din din and I like it since it gets a little more water in them and it makes hiding Gypsy's supplements easy. So yeah, so far the beet pulp is a big win!

Escape!

I have been busy with work. Too busy. It seems now that I go in to work just as it's getting light and get home just as it's getting dark. Such is the life when working retail. Anyways, Friday after Thanksgiving I had been out late to the goth club watching a band. I didn't get home until 2 or 3 in the morning. My other half had forgotten to feed the girls so when I got home I fed them a quick dinner and went to bed. I was awoken at 6 in the morning to my mom telling me the neighbor had called and then come over to let us know the girls had gotten out. They were on his front lawn. Nice. I was able to get them with no problems, catch Gypsy and Doodles will follow. The fence had come partly down in a wind storm we had and of course I haven't been able to really look at the fences since I'm always home after dark. The fence has since be repaired and I made a make shift way to plug the electric fence back in. It's been unable to be plugged in because of the work on the barn, there wasn't an outlet close enough for the fence charger. I worked something out so a least a little power is flowing threw the lines. It's just enough to keep them away from the wires, but wouldn't stop them if they really wanted to get out. Lucky for me they are really good once the fence is on and "clicking" and won't test it.

I've started feeding beet pulp at night. I figure for the winter it might be a good idea, at least for Doodles. Gypsy is getting some too, although she really doesn't need it. They seem to really like it and I figure it gets a little more water in them since I soak it before I feed it. We'll see how this goes.

We've gotten little dustings of snow here and there but nothing to really stick yet. I hope it holds off for a little while longer. Just until we get the run in done. We had the concrete poured yesterday and now we are just waiting on it to set. The building begins sometime this week or next, weather depending. I'm glad we got the holes dug and concrete poured when we did, if we had to wait any longer we wouldn't have been able to do it until spring because of the ground freezing. I can't wait until this barn is done.....