Aqua Therapy

Neighbors Chuck and Elisa took me to visit their reining horse Little Man.  Little Man is at a private farm for rehab treatment.  The place is beautiful.

One of several barns

Tack room

Chuck looking into a stall containing...

an enormous pig!

The story behind this gigantic pig is that the farm's owner found a tiny piglet in the middle of a busy road in downtown Denver.  She brought the little guy home, where he grew and grew and grew.  They treat him just like a horse (except for the riding stuff, lol).  He gets turned out every day, and has a deluxe stall at night.  Lucky piggy!

Little Man is making excellent progress.  The therapists are taking things very slowly (yay!).  They started him on the aqua treadmill with no water in it, and have added a little more water with each session.  I've condensed his session to about a minute in the video.

I thought his behavior was stellar for any horse, but especially for a four year old stallion.  Good boy, Little Man.  Come home soon. 

The farm has just about every piece of rehab equipment I've ever heard of.  They also have an indoor panel walker.  I'm not big on hot walkers, but this design seems much safer than the old style.

Home, Home on the Range

Home, home on the range

where the deer and the antelope play

where seldom is heard a discouraging word

and the skies are not cloudy all day

David and I saw this herd of antelope

on range land just north of our ranch.

The buck quickly placed himself between us and his herd.

What a smart and handsome guy.

We left before he felt the need to move the herd.

Thunderstorm

We had a pretty good thunderstorm today.  We could see it coming, and got the horses in from pasture seconds before it broke.  It started with heavy rain with some snow pellets, then changed to thunder and lightning.  Neighbor John called to let us know we were under a tornado warning.  I've never seen the sky quite so layered, just like a cake.

It seems strange to see lightning cut off

We're looking east, toward Chuck and Elisa's ranch.

I love a good storm when there's no harm done.

And we need the moisture, although

I'll be cussing if Paj

pulls a shoe.

Dog Show, Horse Show

It was a weekend full of dogs and horses.  The hike Mickey and I participated in on Saturday raised $130,000 for homeless pets.  Yay!  Sunday I went to a dog show to watch Mickey's supermodel* girlfriend Gossamer strut the runway.  Gossy is Diana and Bob's Borzoi.  She was a star.  Yay!

Gossamer (Gossy), handled by Kay

I don't know enough about dog shows to tell you the names of the classes she won, but win she did.  And she earned points.  Kay was showing Gossy and a male Borzoi, Kiss, so when Kiss won his class too, Kay handed his lead to Diana for the boy winners vs girl winners class. 

Diana, Kiss, Kay, Gossy

A good time was had by all.

Lynn, Bob, Kay, Gossy, Diana, Kiss

It was a big weekend.  I watched a bit of the dressage championships too.  Remember Elvis?  His half brother, Hound Dog, did very well in the 1st Level championships.  Hound Dog is 4 years old, and owned and ridden by Shannon.

Hound Dog and Shannon

My old friend Phoenix had a rock solid freestyle.

Here's a very short clip of his three tempis.

This horse is such a sweetheart.

*Kay G called Gossy a supermodel in a comment.  It fits and I'm stealing it!

A Hike

Mickey and I did the Wag 'n Trail hike today.  It's a benefit for homeless pets.  The weather was glorious, even though there was a haze of smoke from the Montana fires. 

No Pike's Peak backdrop today

Mickey loved the hike!

Halfway through, there was free ice cream...

for the dogs!

There were lots of vendors at the finish line,

and dogs of all shapes and sizes.

While I took a photo of three beautiful Doodles

for Sophie,

Mickey snuck behind them

and had a sniff!

Cheeky boy!

There was much hysterical barking

at the fly ball demo

(not from Mickey)

Puppies and Puppy!

You might remember that Bob and Diana added the Borzoi puppy Ladyslipper (click here) to their family a while back.  Well, now Lady's littermate Laurel has joined the pack!

She's very friendly!

Laurel makes it a four pack!  But wait, there's another Puppy!  We'll get to him in a bit.

Diana and I went to visit her Friesian Winthrop.  Whinny is at a nice retirement facility, right next to his former boarding stable.  By day, he's turned out with three buddies in an enormous field.  By night, he has a stall in a cozy barn.  Lucky guy.

 

That's Whinny just to the right of center.

He came right up when Diana called him.

 

What a sweet boy.

Now on to Puppy!  With Whinny in rehab or retirement, Diana is riding a gigantic Canadian Warmblood named Puppy.    Puppy is a very versatile guy.  He's being shown on the hunter/jumper circuit by his owner, and Diana is doing dressage with him.  His character is sterling, and he's as gentle as a puppy.

Diana showed me his lateral work and his flying changes, but my little camera couldn't deal with the lighting in the arena.  I only got a few shots. 

Diana and Puppy

He's a nice horse.

He even packed me around.

What a fun day.  Puppies, Puppy, and friends.

A Cool Down

It's cooling off!  It was 37 degrees at feeding time this morning, and we can see snow on Pike's Peak.  It's time to get ready for winter.  This year we're adding automatic waterers to the pastures.  No more fighting ice!  Yay!

David, Eric, Tom

The cooler weather means the horses are feeling feisty.  This morning when we drove Boomer, Ben wanted to come too.

Boomer was his usual steady self in spite of Ben's antics.

I always enjoy the shadows.

So Near and yet So Far

Whatcha lookin' at, Mick?

Oh.

What's the score now, Mick?

Bunnies - 1,000,000  Mickey - 0

In other doggie news, Diana and Bob's Borzoi* competed in a Borzoi specialty show** this weekend.  Both Hannah and Gossamer won their classes!  Congratulations, girls!

Bob and Gossamer, June 2010

Gossy, November 2011

* Plural of Borzoi is...Borzoi!  Who knew?

**  A specialty show is a show of a single breed.  I'm learning all kinds of things!