SD water features

This much snow...2/21/10
Has to go somewhere.

Warmer weather means it's melting. That's the good news portion of the programming. The week of rain we've had that's helped it go? That's the bad news.

We took a drive yesterday afternoon, checked on Rufus and meandered around the countryside at bit after.


In some spots it's a fairly normals spring. A bit wet, but some spots there's always water during melt. In others...

They posted a warning on the high road to the farm we take when the snow blows in badly. It passes through a marsh area just before the next crossroad west, and the water's up just a touch.

Farther down the blacktop...Enemy Creek - the runoff culverts aren't big enough this year.

Driving back we angled across on the back roads

with a detour here or there.

Water at the farm is up, too. The driveway remains passable for now, although there's a very nice pond forming at the base of the drive.

G cut in some drainage. They've never needed a culvert, but this year would be one to have one.

Up on the hill, this little rivlet runs right down through the trees...

And straight through the bottom of the horse lot.

I did some trenching Friday afternoon, and so far it's draining nicely. The bottom is sandy, and it's only a bit over ankle deep...

Now that it has somewhere to run to.


'Myra says...

"Make it stop raining now, 'kay?"

Still here

Not sure exactly what I've spent the last two weeks doing - well, I know, but it's not anything interesting - but it obviously hasn't been posting!

Here's a rundown of recent events:

• horses (not-so-crazy week of mud (!), melting, and shedding
• work (crazy week leading up to spring break)
• home (crazy week leading up to 15th birthday for H)

I have pictures to go with most of those, but the USB-thingy is still out in the car....

Basically, it's been a non-starter of a fortnight horse-wise.

T is hunting a new saddle which will hopefully a) fit Rufus, b) fit him, and c) not cost an arm and a leg. I think I may have convinced him not to get too attached to the lovely, new, (and extremely dear) 16" Colorado roping saddle the guy at the tack shop was trying to sell him. He has the option of trying it first, which is good, but the price tag made him gulp (me, too!), although it really wasn't out of line for a quality new saddle.

I'm just not convinced we can't find him a good used saddle that will meet all his criteria. We're going to do some more active looking locally first - at least that's my intention!

Other than that, things are wet, rainy, foggy, and - hooray! - above freezing!

Bits & pieces from the classics

Discovered while browsing my bookshelf this morning:

MENTAL HAZARD JUMPING

A jumping competition which tests the training of the horse. The jumps are not high but are peculiar. They may be such things as a wheelbarrow, a pair of chairs set seat to sear, a baby's bathtub filled with water, a bassinet, a row of pails hung on a rod which are rattled as the horse approaches, etc. One way of scoring this competition is as in golf. Each time a horse approaches a jump it is one "stroke," if he shies out or refuses it will cost him another "stroke." Thus the par of a ten jump course would be ten.

from the Horseman's Encyclopedia by Margaret Cabot Self (1946)

We once had to move crates of (highly agitated) live chickens from one barrel to another in trail class. I can vouch for the fact it was a LOT more entertaining for the spectators.

I also like this one:

MALLENDER

The mallenders are the chestnuts or small callosities appearing on the insides of the horses' legs. There is some disagreement as to exactly what these are, though some authorities feel that they are all that remains of the fifth toe of the prehistoric horse.

Never heard that name for them before.

Sunny it was not

But we did at least have mid-20's yesterday, so there were patches of melt water in the road and here and there in the lot. The horses' coats are noticeably starting to loosen as the days get longer. But on the news last night they predicted a cold and snowy March with below-average temps lasting through mid-April. Brrr! The Farmers' Almanac sure had it right.

It's not a Friday, but it's a Book Review

I haven't read a horse-related book in a while (although if you need some YA recommendations, I have a new batch of those...), but someone recommended this one to me and it sounded intriguing.

Actually, what I heard - although in hindsight, I don't think it's what the recommender said - was that this is a true story. While it seems fairly probable that some of the events, particularly the racetrack-related bits, may be based on events that may have happened somewhere to someone, 12 Miles to Paradise is definitely NOT non-fiction. Still...

12 Miles to Paradise: a people story about horses & horseracing by Ted Simendinger

Briefly, this is the story of a race horse that refused to run and what happened next. And it's what happens next, both to a not very fast, but very stubborn Whodathunkit, that kept me turning pages.

Like Ferdinand the bull, who only wanted to smell the flowers and ended up affecting far more lives than he knew, a grey gelding re-dubbed Bonefish changes the course of events for the residents of one whole island and several more people on two different continents.

The premise is absurd, the action is flatly unbelievable... and yet there's a ring to the events surrounding Bonefish particularly that shines 24 carat. (My own family has tales of the backstretch that at first hearing are as oddly unlikely, so who am I to cast doubt.)

In spite of the somewhat rough and ready delivery and a choppy narration (peppered with numerous trivial details and off plot meanderings), it's oddly charming and pleasantly memorable.

Simendinger is a motivational speaker who's written one other book (humorous short stories about people & animals, based on the description). He doesn't claim horse-expertise, and his bio makes no reference to horses at all, so if there are a few gaffs perhaps it's not surprising. Is this the best horse book I've ever read? No. But it's entertaining in an offbeat, oddball way.

My recommendation: don't run right out and buy a copy, but if you happen across it at your local library or swap-shop, give it a chance. You may find yourself smiling.