New Year's Resolution - Grade - F

My New Year's resolution was to "truly appreciate this world's glory and power".  I even posted this gorgeous video to show how I was feeling.


Finding Oregon from Uncage the Soul Productions on Vimeo.

My intention was to appreciate not just the easy stuff like pretty sunrises, but to appreciate all my world, including the power of the weather.  Well, BLAH!  I am failing Weather Appreciation 101!  We've had snow on the ground forever!  It is finally leaving, and do you know why it's leaving???  Because we are having 2 days of non-stop howling, shreeking wind!  We've been between 30-35 mph all night and all day, with gusts over 50 mph.  Tomorrow?  More of the same!  Enough already! 

The good news?  After 5 days of hoof soaking, bandaging and medicating Paj with SMZs, the shoe went back on, and he's all better.  Yay.  The other good news?  February is almost outa here!

Next year's resolution?  To appreciate the easy stuff like puppies and flowers and sunshine!

I Got Nothin'

Nothin' going on here.  We still have quite a bit of snow on the ground, so nothing's going on with the horses.  We've had snow on the ground for so long that Paj has a hoof abscess.  It's his first one in years. 

Since I got nothin', I thought I'd update you on our friends.  Jan is Elvis' full-time rider now.  That's great news, because it means that Jan is 100% well.

Finessa, the beautiful Borzoi that Bob co-owns with Kay, competed in the Westminster Dog Show.  She was 1 of 5 Borzoi invited.  The others were drawn from a lottery system.  Finessa qualified based on her winnings for the year, which included Best of Show at the Borzoi Specialty, where she beat 273 other Borzoi.  At Westminster, Finessa earned an Award of Merit.  The other Borzoi that received this award was from Japan.  Yay Finessa!

Gossamer (Gossy), another of Bob and Diana's Borzoi.

Neighbor and friend Chuck competed at the National Reining Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) World Show Finals on both Rooster and Boss Man.  Boss Man is a great favorite of mine.

Boss Man

If you're like me and know nothing about cow horse reining, here's a primer -

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, David took care of Chuck's stud colt. 



Chuck has a helper, but the colt can be a handful.  David is the only one Chuck wants handling the stud colt.  David is my favorite horse person too!



Horsey Hi-Jinxs

Let's roll!

That's Reggie in purple, Boomer in red, and Paj in green.

Now let's harass each other!

Paj's teeth are working well.

Reggie has no idea he's a senior.

Okay, time to go out in the pastures and do it all over again.

A Big Snowstorm

It started snowing Thursday night and snowed almost continuously until this morning.  Weather reports say we got 18" here, but it's hard to tell.  The wind made some pretty impressive drifts.  Let's go check it out.

Welcome!

Come on in...

if you can get through the drifts.

Let's go check out the barn...

Pretty!  I like the snow clumps on the roof.

It's just like our little Christmas village.

How deep are the drifts in the runs?

About this deep... 

In Which My Brain Gets Carried Away

Paj has not been eating his hay very well for the last few days.  After obsessively observing him, I was pretty convinced he wasn't colicing.  He was eating bran, pellets and treats well, drinking well, and his vitals were good.  On day 2, I called Dr. Gary and he arranged to come out the next day (today).  I admit it, I got carried away going over the grim possibilities.  It's just never good when a horse isn't eating with gusto.  Well, I'm happy to tell you that it was the best possible thing -
 

Sharp points on his teeth!  His teeth or a mouth problem had crossed my mind, but since I'd had his teeth checked in October and couldn't find any sores in his mouth, I crossed that off my list and moved on to more dramatic scenarios.  I've never been so glad to be wrong!  Dr. Gary says he'll be eating his hay much better in a day or two.

Photo notes -
1.  He's not blindfolded, he's wearing his fly mask, which we use as a wind mask to cut down on his blocked tear ducts (airborne allergies + windy days = blocked tear ducts).  
2.  Yes, I wish Stephanie wasn't pulling his mask into his eyes!  No harm done, by the way.
3.  No, he doesn't have really strange hooves, he's wearing bell boots.
4.  Yes, he really is a delicate tropical flower.


Gee, I sound crabby, and I'm really not.  I may be a wee bit over-tired after a worry filled couple of days.