Crazy Cow Country Farm

Lisa adopted this 9 yr old mustang mare, Tess, as “wild” from the BLM prison program several years ago then trained her.  From the first time I went out to her farm I was totally enthralled with this little mare and would spend several minutes at the fence giving her some attention.  Although normally not a fan of bay horses, I just loved her build and soft eyes. 

As Lisa planned her move to Maryland last month she called and asked if she could give Tess to me since she didn’t have room for her in the traveling caravan (she’s gypsy living for a while) knowing how much I’d enjoyed riding her this past spring.  I readily agreed and Tess arrived later that week.  I rate my horses like cars which means Silver rides like a wonderful old Cadillac - a little cranky or hard to start, but a nice secure luxurious ride.  Buck handles more like a ‘51 Chevy truck that takes all your strength and stamina to keep on the right track.  Well Tess is a Porsche, lightening fast and moves out with a forward motion like nothing I’ve ridden.  I love her.  She’s a little spooky on the road yet but we’re learning each other and I think she’ll be happy here. 

She certainly has lovely teeth, don’t you agree?

Uh oh, Buck realized I was in the pasture but not giving him attention so he came sauntering up through the trees.

Why are you petting the new girl?  Am I not good enough for petting?

I can’t believe you gave her a peppermint and not me.

Oh hell no, don’t even try to bribe me with a peppermint now.  I wouldn’t dream of taking one.

We did give him some petting and then headed back to the barn where we discovered a new award-winning horse in the mud placement skills category.  Amazingly, it wasn’t Silver.

I won?  Really?  Oh my!  I worked SO HARD to get all covered like this and it was all worth it.  I know Silver’s disappointed, but hey, I did learn a lot from her.

Anyone feel like grooming a horse for me?

Whew, I don’t know about you, but it’s been one crazy adventure around here after another.  School enrollment is next week and the boys head off to school after mobbing the Target for supplies.  Life will return to normal and I can get back to daily blogging.  Never a dull moment around here!  I have stories like you wouldn’t believe and you’ll positively be on the edge of your seat as you read through my harrowing tales.  Here’s a few teasers for you –

• Killer bees attack
• Buck shows off his buck, unfortunately I was mounting at the time
• A free horse arrives
• The mobile homes in Arkansas stories are all true
• Shreveport kinda sucks
• The meanest horse I’ve ever known returns to the farm
• I work and ride the meanest horse I’ve ever known
• Natural Horsemanship vs. Cowboy Skills
• I think I was in the Wall Street Journal yesterday

……. all these and more!  Stay tuned!

Well, not *hear* but *see* me?  I understand from Ed’s mom and My Damn Brother In Law, Nathan that there’s some gremlins messing with my blog - so sorry about that.  All systems are go from here and the other servers that a view friends are using so I’m not really sure what’s going on.

Summer is in full swing here and I haven’t an available minute during the day between the boys, kittens, horses, cows, friends, work, chores, yada yada yada.  I hope your summer is going swimmingly and will get back to regular blogging shortly.  Please cross your fingers and pray to the God of your choice that Kenny makes it through the summer without joining the horses in the barn.  Those of you who have met my middle child know exactly what I’m talking about.

I’ve been so busy with the boys, horses, summer chores, and work that I don’t have time to breathe or sleep or post.   I promise things will be back to normal when the horses are all trained.  And summer’s over.  And the boys are in school.  And the farm is totally perfect and chore-free.  {yes, I’m living in a fantasty and I realize that}

I’ve recently come across a fantastic lady in the reining world, Stacy Westfall, and have watched her videos repeatedly - thought you might enjoy them as well.

Ghost Riders in the Sky

2006 Winning Freestyle Run - turn it up and listen to the announcer break down, I dare you to watch it without crying

On Ellen DeGeneres - Ellen saw the above run and went nuts trying to get her on the show

Her website - you can learn more about Stacy here

I hope to ride just like her one day.  Should happen when the moon is in the seventh sun and I’m about 89 years old. 

……. and then came horses.  And kittens.  And foals.  And sick children.  Calgon take me away! 

Feeling stressed?  Overworked?  Tired and pulled in 1,000 directions at once?  Let me share with you what’s been going on ’round here and then we’ll talk.

To start with, My Damn Brother In Law Nathan came over.  Let me rephrase.  Came over and spent the night.  That, in and of itself, tops your working overtime and any mother-in-law visits.  I’m not quite sure the purpose of his visit except to give me a hard time, but he was mostly smiling so I think he enjoyed himself.

Poor Jen had to come up every day for nearly a week as we were sticking HUGE needles into Cartman’s neck twice a day and even had to stall him for a couple days.  Thank heavens I’m capable of giving shots to these poor horses because Jen about lost it when she saw the size of these needles and realized how it had to happen!  Riding him was out of the question so we’ve put her on Silver and me on Buck then headed out to pastures and roads - Buck did fantastic, which is about the only thing that’s gone right the past week. 

Elizabeth departed last week on a 6:30 am flight which meant I was up at 3:30 heading to the airport and after being told I could drop her at the ticket counter since mom had paid for an unaccompanied minor ticket, I learned otherwise.  Not only did I have to fill out paperwork and give blood sample (kidding, but not by much) I was provided an “Adult to Minor” pass and told I had to take her to the gate through security and all that.   Naturally, I received a ticket by this time as I’d parked in unloading.  Wouldn’t have been quite the insult had the cop not been staring directly at me through the window as he was writing it and I’d only been inside three minutes.  So after taking her to the gate I said, “I’m done right?” and was told, “Oh no ma’am!  You have to wait until the plane is actually in the air  before we can allow you to leave.”  And please note that the emphasis on “in the air” was entirely her doing.  She even scrunched her little cheeks up and pointed to the air to be sure I fully understood my duties.  I’m sure the woman will remember my expression for quite some time, although I will say there were no expletives said - I hadn’t had enough coffee.

Hissy, our resident Ugly Cat, decided to run off or get herself killed while leaving three little kittens behind which meant I had to climb up a HUGE ladder to bring them down from the attic storage only to find five cats, not three.  Then while I was out working on the shopping gig Ed called to tell me I’d missed one.  Guess who’s been bathing, playing, grooming, and bottle-feeding six kittens now for a week?  Yeah, you guessed it.  We’ll be weaning soon, trust me.

Buck has decided that after we ride he’s supposed to wait in the corral until I tell him to leave.  Isn’t that sweet and cute?  Well not after looking out the window six hours later and realizing he’s still there looking at the house waiting for me to point him out!   Gosh, the guilt of that alone will put me in an early grave.

With Elizabeth gone I had to take over the daily special feeding of lactating mares as well as foal handling.  I know nothing of foals except they’re ornery little suckers and one of them has destroyed our fencing while running full tilt away from mom and into the next field.  Three times.  After arming myself with enough knowledge to at least get something done with them I sit here a week later covered in bruises from bites, kicks, and climbs.  That’s right, climbs.  The older one thinks it’s quite entertaining to run up behind me in the pasture while I’m catching another horse and just climb up me.   Or bite me.  Or spin and kick me.   And the younger one let me know in no uncertain terms what he thought of the halter I was introducing.  Suffice it to say that my entire left breast is the color of purple cabbage.

Sorry for talking about breasts Cousin Jeri.

Honestly, at this point, I’m quite sure I could catch a deer and halter it for someone rather than halter break these two little guys.  So the two mares and foals have been moved into Moo’s pasture as it was getting quite dangerous walking out to catch my own horses or have humans out there at all.  You realize how well that went don’t you?  You guessed it, we have one pissed off cow on our hands now.  She’s expressed her displeasure by moo-ing at me and glaring at me and running up to the gates begging me to let her out and all sorts of other positively embarrassing behaviors.  Heck I probably should just let her out and have the chicken coop back because the hens sure don’t use it to lay eggs in - oh no, they prefer the soda can recycle bin or Ed’s workbench covered in greasy tools.

Then last night Darren tells me his throat hurts and he’s hotter than blazes so he’s probably coming down with something.

Add in some nasty tornado weather and a lot of extra work just put on me without increasing my pay for one of my contract jobs and ….. well you’ve got one stressed out lady here, to say the least.