Views from Saturday

No riding this weekend. :(

On the productive side of things, we did reinforce a gate - several of the more adventurous idgits discovered that one of the gates at the west end of one divided pasture was not live - unbeknownst to me, since in general G does the moving around of pasture-grazing areas. He ran a single wire across, and didn't connect the electricity for whatever reason. Of course, once they determined that they could get under without getting zapped, that's exactly what they did. But could they walk back under to get out? Nope.Instead, they walked to the east end of the field and waited at that gate to be rescued. Sigh. So we added a couple of wires and some plastic bags, and they seemed to be discinclined to revisit the issue. (We need to sink a new corner post up there as well, which is why we didn't just make the gate wire hot.)

Reunited with the three that stayed on the right side of the fence, the gate crashers were very happy to head up for a drink. After we did the gate thing and the fly-spray thing, we left them to resume grazing and headed out to do a bit of fishing.
Sunday we wormed, which was ever so much fun, since it was windy and storm-threatening. Out of the eight, three were good - as expected. One who is usually not at all fun was a breeze (shock!), and four could have been a lot better. I really need to spend a couple of hours doing the syringe with applesauce thing. On the plus side, I only ended up wearing a tiny bit of wormer this time, and not most of a tube like usual.

And that's the horse activity for last weekend. I am informed that T has been riding and checking on the four-feets, and all is well thus far. Darn, I hate being horse deprived during the week!

School has started for H, and M is back in CT with his mom, so no more fishing and riding with the boy until next summer :( Hopefully, he'll still be as excited about it then! The house is going to feel awfully empty this weekend with one less person in it. (Teenage girls occupy lots of space, too, but the area around them tends to be rather more drama filled!! LOL)

Oops - my mistake!

Alert reader Summer Girl commented regarding yesterday's Friday Book Review of Billy Collin's Nine Horses. The horses on the cover are apparently NOT dead. She informs me the shots were compiled from works by the photographer Eadweard Muybridge. Hmmm... Well, couldn't prove it by me. The cover art for the book was designed by Barbara M. Bachman, according to the front matter, but if the original images are part of Muybridge's work, I stand corrected.

They look less than lively. But the possiblity that they were alive and kicking, at least at the time the photographs were taken, is certainly more pleasant than the alternative!

Do be sure to check out the link to Eadweard Muybridge, by the way. He's evidently responsible for developing a motion picture technique that answered "the galloping question."

Has it been THAT long?!

My ankles hurt. And my hips.
And my knees and my back.
Basically, my whole lower body ached.
What in the world?

But let me back up a minute.

I used to run 6-8 miles every day. Then I moved to SD, and for various good reasons, I for the most part stopped running. A couple of years ago I bought an elliptical machine to use winters when it's too cold and nasty to do much outside, and I'll admit, I've gotten spoiled - it's really easy to hop on and exercise for half an hour when I'm half-asleep. It's a pretty painless way to stay in shape for riding and chores!

But the elliptical machine is still taking up space in the basement at home, and since I'm only there on weekends, I had to find something else to do for exercise & stress relief during the week. And I thought, hmmm... why not start running again.

Ouch.

I've gone running on and off since I quit running daily, and although my hips might ache a little, and my muscles might be sore the next day, I've NEVER had sore ankles. Or most of the other sore spots I had after three days of running. Three days, I should add, that weren't even sequential - I went rollerblading the days in between. Yikes.

And then it dawned on me. Shoes. I have good running shoes - IMHO, riding boots & running shoes are two items of footwear worth spending a bit to get good quality, because otherwise you pay for it in other ways!. BUT, although they look pristine on the outside, I'd used them for about 1,000 miles of elliptical machine exercise.

Result? No more cushion - they're fine for walking around in, but for running? I'd have been better off barefoot. A week later, new running shoes, and I've logged three days of running with only a bit of stiffness - hallelujah!

And that started me thinking. How often do I really check over my tack to make sure that everything's still comfy, cushy, and secure? Oh, It looks fine. And I check that Chicago screws (hate them!) are snug, and that my latigo and off billet aren't stretched or cracked - you know, the big stuff. But is my wool pad still fluffy, or has it packed down enough to be uncomfortable? And what about my reins? Okay, so my whole bridle is biothane, so I'm probably fine there, but the stitching could still rot out.... There are any number of little things that might need attention.

I know I don't check as often as I should, because after all, it worked fine the last time I used it.

How about you? What's your tack maintenance schedule? Do you have one? I know I've had reins break. And on one very memorable occasion, walked home because the horse spooked, a stirrup leather broke when I stood down into it, and thump! Off went my horse without me.

Friday Book Review: so, it's poetry.

Do you know many people who sit down and read poetry? I don't. At least not that I know of, although they must be out there, because lots of it seems to get published. It just isn't usually on my list of things to read.

But I ran across mention of this week's book, and the title (and the comments) were intriguing, so I tracked down a copy. After I read it? Well, I'll let you read the review...

Nine Horses by Billy Collins

I picked up Nine Horses on a whim ( I liked the title, and as I said, the comments I read were promising). The cover has horse heads on it. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell from the picture I saw, that the horse pictured is, well... dead. That was the first surprise.

Although it's not at all horse-related in the sense the title suggests, I enjoyed it very much. After the dead horse on the cover discovery, that was the second.

Collins' poems are lyric and accessible at the same time. He muses on every day matters -- 3 AM wakefulness, love and domesticity, or the simple act of watching the scenery click by on a train trip -- and makes them experiences worthy of remembering.

I'm not usually a poetry reader, so this isn't a particularly literary review, but today I've been more watchful for the beauty in the everyday. I'll look for Collins' name in the future if a poetic mood strikes me, and I'm adding Nine Horses to my "books to purchase" list.

Even if it does have a dead horse on the cover.

What's in story for coming weeks? Well, one of the beautiful things about working is a library is that occasionally I run across nifty titles that might otherwise escape my notice. For instance, this week I found The Secret Life of Cowboys and a old book of compiled (purportedly non-fiction, but we'll see) tales of long riders and endurance challenges. The best part? They're now mine, as the library already has copies and no one else wanted them. :)

"The Unwanted Horse"

Received an interesting email today about the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign.

It's evidently a non-profit joint effort by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health and the American Association of Equine Professionals (AEEP). Here's their opening statement:

We’re for the unwanted horse. For the broodmare whose breeding days are over. For the Thoroughbred that’s just not fast enough. For the workhorses. The pasture pets. The foals that fell through the cracks.

At Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), we’re for the road home. Through the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign, we pledge to help the overburdened equine rescues and retirement facilities provide healthcare so they can rehabilitate, revitalize and, ultimately, re-home America’s unwanted horses.

Get involved with the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign. And help these horses find the homes they deserve.

They seem to be putting their money where their mouth is. Neglected Horses Receive Help.

Anyone heard of them?