What a Wyatt

It was a nice, brisk, 37 degree day. Slight breeze, hazy sky. Sounds like good riding weather to me! So I saddled up the problem child and told him we were bustin' out and going for a real ride.

Here he is looking so unamused:
Here we are heading south toward the trail:
Coming up on the old town proper:
The old town hall:
Reading all of the signage and obeying all the rules:
Looking at what made that big scary noise (chipmunk):
Just a fella, a horse, and a trail:

And then:

What the buggers IS that?
(Those of you that ride a horse and carry a camera can fully understand that pic)

It's one of these:
Furry horse-eating Alpacas:

Wyatt was wonderful. He only got a little twisty on me when this fella charged the fence. He must be Chief Alpaca:
After that excitement it was back to the trail:
Some berries (we didn't eat them):
Some ice in the swamp:
More traffic signs, complete with traffic:
Some logging:
Then we were home:
Doesn't he look happy?

(We don't put our snow shovels away until June. It's Wisconsin, ya know)

Just Riding

Just a few pics of Sara bringing Wyatt in for his grain. She decided to hop on to avoid walking through the mud.




There's not much to say about this fella. He's about as good as they get.

Wild Man Wyatt

As I mentioned, Wyatt is here for a refresher. Mainly on manners. His owner has just about had enough of his unruliness, his pushiness, and his crabby ways. He bites at her when she's grooming, he's constantly swishing his tail and dancing around, and he's just owly all the time. So we said to bring him over for a few weeks and we'll see if we can figure out his problems.

But....

He's been a perfect gentleman since he stepped off the trailer.

It's just the same as when your car makes a funny noise all the time except when you take it to the mechanic. Hard to fix what seems fine.

But he's a blast to have around. He loves to play with Kirby, and Kirby was in much need of some play time. These are from their first meeting.

The Hello:

The obligatory Telling of the Dirty Jokes:

And a little bit of Acting Like Clowns:

But soon enough it was Back To Work:

Followed by some Cool Down:
I wish he'd show us some of that famous ugliness, but until then, we'll just enjoy having him here.

Schluk Schluk Schluk Schluk........

That's the sound I'm greeted with every morning. The sound of horse hooves slogging their way through the slop of thawing mud, melting snow, and receding frost. It's a welcome sound after the four months of frozen earth hidden under a deep blanket of snow, but it sure makes for a mess.

Times like this summon thoughts of how to better engineer the dryot for better drainage. We all become backyard experts in excavation, hydrodynamics and geotechnical engineering this time of the year. We arm ourselves with shovels and rubber boots and head out to divert the flow of meltwater. Sometimes tractors, back blades and box scrapers are brought in, but the slippery mud can render tractor tires useless. And most times the tire ruts do more harm than good.

It's really a practice in futility, but we feel the need to try to beat the forces of nature, or at least come to an understanding. We can never win against an opponent that works tirelessly to keep the tide of the seasons moving. It would be nice to go straight from the frozen tundra to the lush greens of summer, but we must transition there gradually. And the medium between snow and sun is mud.

So we slog forward, fighting against the mud and slop that struggles to keep our feet planted. And we keep hoping for sunny, rain free days.

Grandpa's Tractor

Sara's Grandpa lent us his old J.I. Case 430 LCK for the winter for snow removal and other jobs that we could find for it around the farm. It's not perty, it smokes and sputters and it leaks every fluid except gasoline and green stuff, but it sure is handy. We've been using it to clear the driveway of snow, level the sand in the indoor arena, and scrape the drylot of frozen horse poo.

The day we went to pick it up was an interesting day. First, it wouldn't start. It had been sitting since last April and the gas was old and all varnished up in the carb. We ran the battery dead trying to start it, so we tried to pull start it by pulling it behind the big tractor. After a few tries it spittered and sputtered to life. Everything seemed to be just fine until I went to drive it up on the trailer and the right brake locked tight and wouldn't release. So we pulled it backward with the big tractor and the wheel freed up. Seemed ok until I hit the brake and the same wheel locked up again. We got the wrenches out and removed the pivot pin from the right drum brake housing. This allowed for the wheel to turn, but completely disabled the brake on that side. And brakes are a good thing to have.

We got it loaded and home without further incident. I used it a few times to drag the chisel-plowed field behind our place so I could spread manure. Then one morning I went out to start it and it wanted nothing of it. Seemed that all the bouncing around from the trip here and the rough field work loosened up the sediment in the gas tank, which found it's way into the fuel filter and plugged it tight. So, I drained out four gallons of dirty old gas, replaced the fuel lines and the filter and it was good to go. That was until the float in the carb stuck open, flooding the engine. So off to the store for a carb kit. Took off the carb, cleaned and reassembled that, and it was good to go. Again. Which was good, because our first major snowstorm of the year was just around the corner.

Boy, it snowed. We got about 16" of heavy snow and sideways winds. Thigh-deep drifts. I had no fear, Grampa's tractor was here. It started right up, eager to push the blowing whitestuff into a big pile. I let it warm up while I sipped coffee and watched the snow whip past the open garage door. I snugged my hat down on my head, climbed on the 430, and headed out to move snow around.

And got stuck at the bottom of the driveway.

It did a fine job moving a big load of snow down the hill to the road. I turned the tractor around and pushed that big pile of snow into the ditch on the other side and got stuck. That's when I found out that a two wheel drive tractor with bald tires and no snow chains is about as useful as wet toilet paper. I tried rocking it back and forth in hopes that it would get enough momentum to climb back onto the road. No luck. Here's where the significance of losing the right brake comes in. A tractor has two brake pedals to control each back tire. Almost always you press both pedals to stop the tractor's forward motion. But those brake pedals can also be used to help the tractor gain traction. The rear differential of a tractor delivers power to the tire that has the least resistance; ie: the one that is spinning. Spinning tires don't get you moving forward. They just spin. By pushing on the brake of the wheel that's spinning, you cause resistance on that side which in turn delivers the power to the other wheel. Hopefully. And when you have a working brake pedal to push, it usually works like a charm.

But, I didn't have that option. Pushing the brake pedal did nothing because, as mentioned above, we disabled that brake. So there I sat. Back tires just off the edge of the pavement, front of the tractor sticking out on the road just waiting to stop traffic. So what does one do in a sticky situation like this? Call your friendly neighborhood farmer, that's what. Preferably the guy with the bigger, unstuck, tire chain adorned tractor. So I humbly called Donald, the older fella that we bought our land from. He was almost too eager to offer to come over and help. I assume he needed a good laugh.

Hearing the hum of that engine over the sound of the tire chains coming down the road was a relief. Even if I was a bit embarrassed. He pulled up grinning ear to ear on his showroom quality 1970 International Harvester 544 Utility . "Thought you were stuck", he shouted. I suppose the sight of the old Case sitting a mere 6" off the roadway didn't seem to fit the definition of stuck, but stuck I was. I just shrugged. He looked again, saw the bald tires with no chains, grinned a little more and said, "Ahhhh..."

His tractor pulled the old Case out of the ditch and up the driveway without the slightest hint of laboring the engine. I was able to motor on my own as soon as he pulled me out, but he felt it was necessary to pull me all the way up the driveway to a resting place directly in front of the open garage door. It was a humbling experience. I hopped off the old Case to disconnect the tow chain, and Donald shouted "Ya need chains. I'll clean out your driveway for ya."

He spent the next two hours moving snow for me. I suppose he felt he had to pay for his entertainment. You see, tractor owners are very loyal to their brand. Any opportunity to help a fella out of a tight spot who happens to have a different brand is an opportunity to puff up one's chest. It's called Brand Ego.

The following weekend I got chains and haven't been stuck since.

This last weekend I backed it out of the garage and heard that telltale squeaky-grindy noise that is sure to be a wheel bearing going to hell. Off to the shop we went, and that's where it is until the parts come in. Luckily, it's an easy fix. At this rate, Grampa's gonna get a nicer tractor back than what left his place.

Welcome Back!

Wyatt's back for a few weeks for a spring-time refresher.

LOTS of pics to come. He's almost as handsome as the lil' Mater-pootater.

SRSLY?

Could he be ANY cuter?

My eyes hurt looking at that face.

But back to reality, it's work time at the farm.

Mater is coming along very well. Big show season debut in about 6 weeks. Gonna be exciting.

Fuzzy Girl

Warm weather is coming, and our 'lil Honky Tonk Girl is still as furry as ever. She's usually the last to shed out.

Oops. Excuse Me.

As the big storm was blowing all the whiteshit sideways outside, we were inside the barn readying the stalls for the nite. We let Kirby and Mater blow off some steam in the indoor arena during our chores. Mater was more interested in stealing hay from over the railing, but Kirby was having fun rolling around in the nice soft sand. I think he was trying to tell us he didn't want to be a Paint anymore, because he did a real good job of turning every white spot to sandy brown. After his roll he took off buckin' and runnin' all over like a fool. Rear hooves straight up in the air while his head was tucked between his front legs.

Mater was unimpressed and continued to steal hay over the rail.

After the acrobatics show, we got back to work cleaning stalls. I set my can of beer down on the rail. Dumb move, I know. That's a fine spot to set it if I wanted it knocked over. And sure enough, Kirby happened to spot it and proceeded to knock it over. Any of the beer that spilled on
the rail was promptly licked up by that messy boy. Amazingly the can landed upright in the aisle and didn't make much of a mess. I picked it up and was going to set it on the shelf away from thieving horse lips But Kirby was sure interested in that beer can. I took a sip and blew my stinky beer breath at him, and he just sniffed and sniffed. So I figured why not - and poured a little bit onto my had and let him slobber it out.

No sooner did I take my hand away that Kirby smacked his lips twice and went "URRRP"!

We just laughed and looked at that dirty brown horse. He didn't seem to understand all the commotion he caused. Sara just laughed harder and said that he's becoming more and more like me every day: always a mess and full of beer burps.

Now, I've always been told that horses can't burp. I'll be the first to argue that they can.

Four Blues

Congrats to Sara and Mater!

They went to Heartland Stables on Saturday for the Fuzzy Wuzzy winter series that they host.

They had a successful day, earning:
1st in Showmanship
3rd in walk/trot English Equitation
2nd in English Equitation
1st in walk/trot Western Pleasure
4th in Western Pleasure
1st in walk/trot Horsemanship
1st in Horsemanship

The Horsemanship class had quite the pattern: Imagine a big capital "N". Lope off on the wrong lead, continue loping on the wrong lead around the cone, do a lead change halfway to the next cone, then lope around the next cone on the opposite lead all the way to the last cone, then stop and back. They've only been working on simple lead changes for a short time now, and he nailed it!

Even though they come home with four blue ribbons, Sara was still disappointed about not placing better in the Western Pleasure. It seems that Mater has developed a habit of falling out of the lope at the most inopportune times, like when he's directly in front of the judge. It's just another thing that Sara will add to the list of things to work on at home.

Without The "Ta"

After we sold Jin the search began for a new horse. Sara wanted another young Western Pleasure prospect that she could finish. Again, the internet was searched and calls were made. A couple of appointments were scheduled, but were cancelled at the last minute by the sellers. It seemed that anything that caught Sara's eye had a big fat price tag attached to it or was too far away or it had some concerns that would cause us to look elsewhere.

But one little horse kept coming to the top of the list. For the life of me I don't know why Sara was drawn to him. The sales presentation was horrible. We were sent two teeny little pics and a poor quality grainy video that was taken on a cellphone. These are the actual pics, and no, they don't enlarge if you click on them:
I'd find Sara at the computer studying that low quality video over and over. I'd just shake my head. Sara would email the seller a list of questions and the reply would come back with maybe half of them answered. I thought it was a waste of time. Sara thought she saw something there, some untapped potential in that blurry 30 second video.

I could tell that Sara had the itch to get a new horse, and soon. I told her to take her time, the right one would come along. She told me that she thought she found the right one in those tiny pics.

"You sure?" I asked.

"Yep."

His home was in central Illinois, about a seven hour's drive from here. We tried to schedule a time to go see him, but the thought of making two trips didn't sound too fun...one trip in the car to look at him, and a trip back with the truck and trailer if we liked him. We discussed just making one trip with the rig, and if we didn't like him we'd just be out a bunch of gas money. But the thought of dragging a 30' trailer through Milwaukee & Chicago didn't appeal to me too much. After much discussion we decided to take a crazy chance and buy this guy, sight unseen, and have the seller's deliver him. Sure sounded crazy. In fact, it still does.

We made the offer to the sellers, and they accepted, delivery included. They readily accepted. Maybe too readily.....

So, we bought this sight unseen (in the flesh) horse from someone we've never met from a land far away. Stupid? Maybe. Crazy? For sure. I just hoped he had that untapped potential that Sara saw.

He arrived June 12th on a cold and windy day. The poor boy was all shed out from his warm winter hair, and it was 40 degrees and nasty. My first impressions were not good. He was short. His feet were long and his shoes were falling off and no two hooves were trimmed at the same angle. And he was thin. Ribs showing like a xylophone.

Did I tell ya it was a crazy idea to buy a horse sight unseen?

But he was quiet and cute and sound and he moved nice. Sara still had hope.

Mega's Doctor Time is his real name. But they called him Mater. That's right, like the hillbilly tow truck in the Pixar film. Mater, like tamater without the ta. Yeah.... But we kept the name. It fits him.

We got his shoes pulled, trimmed his feet up right, got him some good groceries and attended to anything else he needed. Sara worked on his training, and it needed a lot of work to bring him to where she wanted him. It was frustrating for her at times. She kept expecting him to perform as well is Jin did, but she had to realize that he was far from being where Jin was in his education. Take a few steps back and remember how to teach the basics. With Mater being the same age as Jin, it was hard for her to grasp that he just didn't have the training that she was accustomed to. But they worked hard and Mater had the talent and brains to learn it all.

About a month after we got him, Sara thought it was time to try an open show to see how far they had come along in his training. They loaded up the trailer and headed out with the plan to show in a few open walk/trot classes. I wished them well and saw them off. When they came home that evening I asked how they did, and Sara had a weird look on her face and her hands behind her back. I asked if everything was ok. That's when she showed me the pair of etched wine glasses and blue ribbons that they earned that day! Turns out lil' Mater Mater Sweet Poo-tater took 1st out of 20 in open walk/trot and 1st out of 27 in open walk/trot horsemanship.

His training and showing continued over the summer, and he kept proving that he had all the potential to be a champ.

In the six short months we've had him, he's shown us that he is everything and more than what Sara saw in that blurry video. A big heart, tons of give, and a calm disposition.

We sure lucked out with this sight-unseen lil' pony.

Mater, like tamater without the ta

or

Mater Mater Sweet Poo-tater

New Blog Link

I've got a new blog listed in my blog links in the right column. I suggest that you regularly check out Sleep Talkin' Man . I find it hilarious.

Dreams are amazing things, and this fella vocalizes them. His dear wife then records all of his crazy mumblings and posts them for the world to see. Some of it is very "adult", so be warned.

Put your coffee down and enjoy!

Perfect Jin n Scotch

I've been putting this post off for many reasons. It's hard to put all of these thoughts into words, at least words that everyone can understand.

Parting with a horse is not an easy thing. A horse that has been a part of our daily life for years. A horse that has given so much of himself and has rewarded us with so much pride.

Jin came about after many months of searching for a new show prospect for Sara. Many hours were spent scanning the ads on the internet, viewing videos, and talking with sellers. Many miles were spent in the car looking for just the right horse. We got it narrowed down to three prospects, with Jin being the youngest of the three. Sara really didn't want a yearling, but she always had a soft spot for a Palomino Paint. A lucky turn of events found her dad near where Jin called home, and he took some time out to go look at him for us. He called us that evening and said he couldn't find one bad thing to say about this little yellow horse. We called the seller, made arrangements to go pick him up, and hooked up the trailer.

I'll never forget that trip. It was mid December and 9 degrees above zero. About an hour into our trip we discovered that the heater in the truck was stuck on high. We had to drive with the windows open so we wouldn't melt. When we finally arrived without any further incident, Jin was all cozy in his stall waiting to meet us. He was adorable. And all legs. He was nice and quiet and a little shy, but he warmed up to our scratching fingers soon enough. We put a blanket on him to keep him cozy for the trip. He'd never had a blanket on but accepted it without a fuss. He loaded into our strange trailer without a fuss and stood quietly for the entire ride. We got home well after dark, and he unloaded just as quietly and followed Sara's lead thru the dark to the barn door. It was a big day for him, but he handled it all like a big boy.

There's not a lot of things you can do with a late yearling. Sara and Jin just spent a lot of time together that first winter. He learned how to lead and lunge and mind his manners and they even did some simple showmanship practice. It was fun to watch him grow and learn. He seldom needed to be shown something twice.

His second year was spent with more learning. We took him to the occasional open show and he did well in the 2 year old lunge line class. We knew he was going to be a nice mover when his body and brain finally caught up to those legs. Sara started him lightly under saddle at 2-1/2, and his first ride outside was on Thanksgiving day. The smiles on Sara's face were priceless.

His third year was spent at many local open shows, where Jin and Sara earned many firsts & seconds. He was beginning to excel in showmanship and hold his own in Western Pleasure. We have an entire wall in our rec room dedicated to his winnings.

The APHA has a program that allows Paint Horse owners to accumulate points at open shows, and it's known as the PAC program. This is to acknowledge that while you may not be showing at breed shows, your APHA horse is still capable of earning points. By the end of that third year he had earned certificates of recognition in Showmanship, Western Pleasure, and Equitation. In addition, they received year end awards from a local open show circuit - Grand in Novice W/T Horsemanship and Reserve in Open Showmanship. Not a small feat by a little yellow horse that was raised and trained by an amateur owner.

His fourth year was when it all came together. Jin & Sara started taking a lesson once a month from a local trainer. Sara had done very well with him, but they both needed that push from an experienced trainer to point them in the right direction. They polished those rough edges and got ready for their first breed show.

I'll never forget that first show. I felt like the smallest fish in a big pond, but everyone was so nice and friendly and helpful to us rookies. I remember watching the competition and realizing that there were a lot of really good moving horses there. I wondered if we made a mistake by going to those breed shows. But we soon realized that the biggest difference between open shows and breed shows was the quantity of the quality. At an open show you'll have three or four good horses and 15 not-so-good horses in a class. At a breed show you have 15 really good horses in a class. But you still compete the same. The goal is the same. You try to do your best just the same. Anyway, I don't even recall the outcome of that first Paint show. They did well enough to not get discouraged.

There was one defining moment to that first big show. We were walking Jin back to the barn after one of his classes when a big trainer walked past and said, "Hey, you have a really nice looking colt there." I turned back to see Sara smiling from ear to ear. She was six inches taller as she floated back to the barn. We knew then that they had a good chance of doing just fine at those Paint shows.

And they did well at their fist year on the circuit. Sara set big goals for the two of them, and they achieved all of them and more. They ended the season winning year end awards in every class, earning points in Horsemanship, Western Pleasure, Equitation, and Trail, a Register of Merit in Showmanship and Hunter Under Saddle, Reserve Champion in Novice Amateur Horsemanship, Reserve All Around Novice Amateur, Grand Champion in Novice Amateur Showmanship, and Rookie of the Year, which was accompanied by that big shiny buckle.

Sara and Jin continued to work and learn new things that fall. They spent the winter working on nailing those lead changes. Jin was about as good as he was gonna get, so we decided to put an ad on the internet. Just to see if we'd get some nibbles.......

The phone was ringing within two hours of placing that ad. Details were worked out and a thorough vet exam and x-rays were done.

It all happened so fast.

We sold that little yellow horse. He has a wonderful new owner and a nice new home in Arkansas. Of this we have no doubt. We hope that he brings his new owner that same sense of pride that he brought us. We hope to see him continue to excel in the show ring and bring many ribbons and awards home for his new person. We hope that they bond as deeply as he and Sara bonded.

Masked Man

Don't feel bad, buddy...
My mom used to dress me in hand-me-downs too.

Angst

Or better yet,

so⋅lic⋅i⋅tude

–noun

1. the state of being solicitous; anxiety or concern.

2. solicitudes, causes of anxiety or care.

3. an attitude expressing excessive attentiveness