Ponies and little girls

 Last week one of the ladies who is a coach and a friend from our CrossFit gym invited me out to visit with her and have lunch. She said the girls were excited for me to come out and see their pony.

The pony is supposedly only 20ish. The people that gave them the pony years ago gave him an estimated age back then. In my opinion, the pony is more closer to 30 than 20. However, he is a much loved animal by all the girls.

The oldest girl has dreams of becoming a barrel racer with a beautiful flaxen maned horse that would fly like the wind and carry her to victories. We all need our dreams.

We didn't have horses when I was a kid, but my Uncle and cousins did. Sometimes my sister and I spent overnights with my cousins and of course we played and rode the horses. 

We rode quite a bit at my Uncle's place. He raised and trained horses. During WWII he was in charge of mules and horses that transported equipment. His love and patience with all equine was amazing.

I'm on the left on Thunder, the cantankerous pony that was probably very misunderstood and very loved at the same time. My sister is on Charlie Brown, one of my Uncle's last horses that he raised before he died.

I think Thunder was a Shetland. We called him a "Sh-tland" pony because he always had tricks to play on his unsuspecting riders. The only rule we had was to stay on top. 

Of course this made me dream of having an incredibly beautiful horse with a long flowing mane and tail. Oh snap!

I ended up with mules, but what can I say? Riding them still makes me feel free and dreamy.

It really eases my mind and soul.

I want to be like these little girls and their pony...playing and dreaming without a worry in their heads.

Decaf and Weather

 

I do love mornings. The view above is looking out the kitchen window at a pretty sunrise.

Mornings are when I get time to myself in the house. 
Since I love coffee in the morning, but coffee doesn't always love me. I switched over to decaf and it made a huge difference. I thought I'd go through caffeine withdrawal and have terrible headaches.

I didn't. But Folgers Decaf is some of the nastiest tasting stuff around. My son's girlfriend works for a coffee company and while talking with him last week I asked if she knew of any kind of decaf coffee that actually tasted good.

This week, I received a package in the mail.

Yum.

This is one of the flavors. Color me tickled to have a smooth and good tasting coffee in the morning. It helps me start the day out with a brighter mood.

Saturday was all about weather. Warming temperatures, ice, sleet, and then rain. As the temperatures warmed up to nearly 50 degrees, the melting snow and warmer air created instant ground fog.

Even though it was raining lightly, I decided to head out the door and explore the intense weather.

I knew that it would be just a short walk through muck, mud, and ice to get to the runoff area just west of our fenceline.

Aurora was absolutely correct in saying, don't follow the trails. Stay off the beaten path.  This deer trail was treacherous. 

The meltwater and ice follow this dip towards the bigger ditch. 

Certain spots have a little drop into a pool and that creates a mini waterfall.

The foam is due to organic matter in the stream like fall's dead leaves. Chunks of ice were slowly spinning around too.

This drops into another lower spot that is wider. I don't know how many years ago this vehicle was dropped in here, but it was probably used at the time to slow down erosion. Of course the water just goes around it.

Just past this car is another one that is nearly submerged in mud.

I kept walking down the hill to follow the water. I got almost to where the creek that flows into our land starts when I heard thunder and decided to hurry back to the house.

Here is a shot from about the same spot in 2018, after a huge rainfall February 21st.

Another storm came in and now the Kickapoo is flooding. I'm all up for going to the creek bottom and exploring today, even if it is dreary looking.

Who knows what I'll discover now that the temperatures have dropped to just below freezing again?

Stormy

Yesterday morning, the sky was interesting when the light started to appear in the sky. Ichecked the weather and apparently we were due for some storms on and off during the day.

I jumped in the 'Ru and took off to the ridge. I wanted to have some 'fun' with the Infrared camera as well as see a nice clear sky without smoke. Clouds and fog would add to the interest.

I parked and decided to walk up the road, that is until I heard the booming to the west.

I figured I had a bit of time before the storm would hit. So I hoped for a shot of some sun. I got fog.

I decided to head home. I didn't want to get caught in the storm and I knew Charlie would be having a fit if he could hear the thunder.

And then I saw the sun as the rain hit in big fat drops.

This became the start of a very long day of endless rounds of storms, lighting, thunder, and a quaking dog.

Thankfully, we were not hit by the rain like others were. 

Grabbed from VernonReportersPost on FB:

Because of the unique way our watersheds are situated, the intense rains were washed into other valleys and we were pretty much spared. Coon Valley, Chaseburg, and Avalanche were not however. Roads closed quickly outside of Viroqua as the flood waters drained down the hillsides and rushed towards the Kickapoo.

We got a total of 2 + inches in 24 hours. A tornado touched down in Boscobel and blew apart some buildings. Thank goodness no one was hurt. LaCrosse got nailed too.

This morning we had another round. Charlie got me up just as he was able to hear thunder in the distance. Other than being soggy around here right now, things are quiet for the moment. The storms may stay north of us which is good for us but bad for those in its path.

It looks like it might be a good day to stroll through the trails and see what the heat, rain, and humidity brought out. That is besides the skeeters.

Stay safe.

For those interested, the mighty muddy Kickapoo is quickly rising and doing its thing. The quiet little river always is ignored until a big hard rain. Then it reminds us just how powerful water can be.

Ohhhh myyyy

Wednesday.... I just looked at all the weather alerts that I was getting.

Red sky in morning

Sailors take warning

A red sunrise can mean that a high pressure system has already passed. It may indicate that a storm system may be moving to the east. A morning sky that is deep fiery red can indicate that there is high water content in the atmosphere [or heavy smoke?]. Rain could be on its way.

Well, rain was on its way along with the possibility of straight line winds, heavy downpours, hail, and other great stuff like lightening. On my way home from CrossFit I parked and took a shot with the IR camera of the first wave of storms.

Infrared is pretty cool for showing cloud textures.

The Turkeys and Turk...lettes were headed for the woods.

The mules moved down into the wooded area for a bit.

And when the winds passed, they moved out to the pasture and went about their business. I can tell what is coming by how the mules act. If something nasty is on its way they literally run for shelter.

They were rather unconcerned with the heavy rainfall and fog that rolled through.

The rains came hard and then let up and came hard off and on for hours. The thunder and lightening continued to boom and shake the house.

Poor Charlie required a lap to sit in while he quaked.

Alerts went out as the County police and workers closed highway 56 in multiple places where water was coming over the road and tree 'parts' littered the highway.

Just another stormy day in Vernon County.

Charlie and I will head out to check the forest fences the creek after it gets a bit brighter out.

With this rain the fungi ought to burst forth in the woods too!

Time to look for slugs and bugs!

History of Horses and Mules

For my friends with equines. I have a fun post. Show me memories!

I'm going to give a nod to Aurora for making me think about this. 

I started out riding and falling off as pure entertainment for my mom and her family. My uncle gave us rides his old horse Babe. To get two rides done at once we'd often ride double. After this shot was taken, my sister and I got to giggling so hard, I fell off and got stepped on in the mushy mud by Babe. I'm the one with the glasses. Yes, we could ride Babe in the pen with no bridle, she was that cool of a horse.

This was to be the first of many misadventures while spending time with my cousins in the summer. My uncle trained horses and had come from one of the last Calvary units in WWII. He was quiet and never raised his voice, but we knew he meant business when he got after us kids. MMMM. Like the time he made us wash the inside of his 3 stall mini barn after we'd blown up mice with firecrackers in the feed barrels and got into a manure fight.

I often got to ride one of Lyle's clients' horses. Very often there wasn't enough saddles to go around. If 4 of us went riding. Only 2 or 3 could have adult saddles. I often got a pad to ride on or went without.

If we went in a group, I'd generally get the shit little pony we all loved and hated. His name was Thunder. If you can see in the photo, Thunder has a snaffle tied to a leather strap and I have twine strings for reins. 

My cousins and us would head out at night after our parents headed out to the bars or to dance. We'd ride the back roads and look for trouble. Yeah. We found it often. We'd even saddle up and head to the dump where we'd shoot rats. No TV? No internet? No problem!

My uncle died. Our horse summers were over. But my wish to have my own horse never ever left my mind. Eventually I was able to get a horse. My first one was Red. An ugly headed red horse that was incredible. He was calm as a cucumber and powerful. He was supposed to be a quarter horse. Next was Cheyanne. I purchased her as green broke. I was green broke too. I had no idea what I was doing and had wished that I'd spent more time watching my uncle train horses.

There was Rocky who came to our place for retirement. An elderly Saddlebred who was trained and had been shown and... had been a lesson horse until the owner no longer wanted him. Nothing fazed him ever. Except leaving the property. Nope, to get past the property line you had to hand walk him sometimes backwards and then he seemed to be okay with it. I am sure I never became the horse person to understand all of his intricate cues and level of training. 

I'll skip through the next few years. I kept Chey, sold Red to my sister, gave Rocky away... divorced...met a man who had mules...married the mule man. Ceremony on mules. 

Mule man thought Cheyanne ought to be bred to a Jack. He also thought we should buy a Jack Donkey and that I should own and train ... and show a mule from said Donkey named Bruce.

Mind you, I was still STILL no trainer. And the Huge Lanky 3 year old mule was Green Broke. Those who owned him didn't like him much and didn't think he'd amount to much.

I'm going to skip the whole training thing. Basically because I am not a trainer. The equine train me and mules have taught me to be a partner in every sense of the word.

Badger. 15 hands. Here is with me waiting while I scour the hillside looking for Morel Mushrooms. Hubby had a custom saddle built for me. 

Nice saddle. Not my favorite as it is heavy and my shoulders sucked.

Badger at WildCat with Sunshine. I'm riding in my Simco with a britchen. Yeah, I swapped English leather for the western ones. My knees like it and I can swing my feet out of the way of stumps and brush in the woods. The britchen keeps the saddle from sliding forward. Mules generally do not have much in the way of withers. Back cinch and britchen or crupper keeps the saddle secure on downhill mule slides.

After the elbow surgery, I thought I'd go this way. Why not? This saddle was easy to put on and great for ridge riding. Sucked at hills. This is Siera. Badger was ill at this time and I was working with another mule that was training me.

Opal the hateful mule. She hated people. In the last few years her life, hubby turned her over to me. A mule who could not be caught, who was ear shy from the old methods of earing down, and who DID not trust humans...became my friend.

It took months and months for this to happen. And when we bonded? It was amazing. Hubby told me I'd never catch that Bitch. Opal was purchased by hubby specifically for team penning and gymkhana. It was a real Hate relationship. But she would preform under saddle.

I scored this Stonewall saddle all beat up and not all there. I called Stonewall and had them ship me the missing pieces. I'm going to say this is my absolute favorite saddle. Super duper lightweight and easy to ride in.

Don't read the link above on Opal if you don't have tissues handy. 
She was still with me and riding at 28 yrs young. And she was a speed mule, she could turn a barrel... and when a deer spooked her by actually springing out of a cornfield and running into us...

Opal did a 180 mid air spin and land at a gallop. She was an amazing athlete. Yeah, I think I nearly wet my pants, BUT I didn't lose the berry bucket!

In this photo, she is giving me her idea of waiting while I pick black berries in the woods.

There is Mica, who I still ride once in a while. She is a non comitted mule. She won't commit to a favorite human. They are just beings to serve her. If you are in the mood to groom? She is your friend. She is mostly retired now.

Photo below is at WildCat, a picnic break on the Yellow Trail I think.

There is Fred. He is 35 years old now. 

Our littlest mule. And most loved mule. 

Fred has probably the longest list of riders on him. 

And that leaves me with the last photos. Sunshine. The daughter of my first horse. Truly a beautiful red head. A good trail mule. A nice sized mule.

I've had her now longer than I've had Badger. We are getting there. 

I mean ... we absolutely are THE best of pals.

I was there when she was born.

Hot Shoeing

The morning started with a phone call from our farrier.

"Say Val said she'd like to see some hots hoeing, well I'm going to be at Linda's and will be hot shoeing Thunder, would you guys like to come over?"

Indeed we did! To watch Dan work is like watching art in motion. He'd probably blush at that description.

We arrived and Linda told her border collies to sit in her 'Mule'. Her cattle dogs are incredible and they were our audience.

The horse to be hot shoed for a Wagon Train was Thunder. He would need shoes to navigate blacktop and gravel roads.
I'm not going to get into the the discussion of shoes vs. no shoes. In our area if you ride often on gravel roads and our rocky trails, shoes are pretty much a must.

First Dan trims the feet.

Here is his portable forge. Hot? Yes it is hot!

Here he puts the hot shoe against Thunder's hoof.
NO, it does not hurt the horse.
Thunder never even had a reaction.
We however were warned that it would be stinky.

The purpose simply for hot shoeing is to create a smooth surface between the hoof and the shoe. It seals the horn tubules and as Dan told me makes the shoe lie nice and flat against the trimmed foot.
[Imagine putting on a pair of shoes that are lumpy and bumpy against the bottom of your foot. You'd get sore feet in a hurry right?]

Dan finishes up the first foot and moves around the horse repeating the process and custom fits his hand made shoes to each foot.

While doing endurance my mule's feet were cold shoed. After watching and understanding the process of hot shoeing, I'd never do cold shoeing again.

Dan makes his own shoes and that would seem to be a lot of extra work. However he takes a lot of pride and care with each shoe.

Dan is also a certified farrier. He understands the anatomy and physiology of the horse. I suppose I could list his credentials if I knew them all.

He does know feet and he does know horses, mules, and donkeys.

Dan can tell exactly how he has to adjust the shoe to fit properly when using hot shoeing method.

Here he determines where he has to make adjustments ...

And then he goes to his anvil and custom fits the shoe.
After a bit more work, the shoe goes on.

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert at hooves, horses, and shoes, or trimming. However I do know that taking care of the equine foot is so very important.

I like watching Dan work and I really like how he explains things as he goes along. Sometimes I have to stop him as I don't quite get all of the terminology and jargon that goes along with a farrier/blacksmith job.

I do know that my small herd of animals are much better off in having him take care of their feet now. He helped get Siera back on her 'feet'. So far she has been the only one we've ever had a with an issue.
Since Dan came to our farm as our farrier, things have gone quite smoothly.

Last but not least.
Our entertainment while we were visiting.

Sully, the mini donkey.