Lacy comes for a visit.....

Lacy was coming up the road when I snapped this shot of Gilly, I love this picture of him. I changed it to sepia tone and it really popped out. He is standing by the fence looking through the trees and down to the roadway.

Lacy is watching Gilly run down off the hill behind the barn. She had been whinnying to Gilly as he came to the fence. This is the first time Kim has ridden her in awhile, she was pretty happy to see Gilly and Pokey.

Now to the problems with trailer mats! I thought they would go in easily, NOT!!!! They are six feet and my trailer is supposed to be six feet wide but NO it is five feet eleven and a half inches! So every one of them has to be cut in some way. The first one had to have notches to fit around the back posts by the door, plus the half inch off one side. Second one has to have half inch off one side but then were was another problem. Just past the escape door the trailer wall is not as thick as the back of the trailer so it is over six feet......ugh.....now I think we will have to run the mats from the nose back then trim the long sides. I will have to take pictures to show when we are finished. We have found that using a saber saw works pretty well but boy is that rubber hard to cut.......
Rats, if it's not one thing it's another!!!!!
Oh, tried to move the trailer around, did some backing......oh, my!! It was ugly; sigh, I see lots of practice in my future before Gilly and I hit the road! :-(

What's in your trailer tack room???

Before I get to the trailer topic, let me say this......Gil and I went for 1 1/2 hour ride this morning! Ahhhh....heaven!!! The temperature was in the mid 50's...can you believe it???  After we have had temps in the 90's for so long this wonderful cool fall like weather has graced the hollow. (picture is from another ride) I didn't take the camera, I just wanted to ride and enjoy being on horseback again. I have found that I don't have to work Gilly in the round pen like I thought I did, well, so far anyway. We may do a few small trot laps on the lunge line just in the yard, back, sideways, come to me just to see if his mind is with me. If it is then we do a few neck flexes, ground work, as we are doing this I snug up the girth three times, then to the mounting block and we are off. I have done this with him the last 4 times I have ridden and he is fine, overdoing the round pen and lungeing tends to make him a little upset with me, he keeps telling me, alright already....I KNOW THIS STUFF....let's get on with ridin'!!!!
We had a really good ride, just up the road and turned at the bridge then back down the road, turned in the hay field crossed the creek and went up the old road for a ways, back down the hill across the creek, past Kim's and into the next township turned and came back home. We did some trot work in the hay field (I ride in it when the hay is finished...wish I could turn it into an arena, it's large enough!)
Such a nice cool morning Gilly didn't even work up a sweat. I enjoyed it so much, just a leisurely quiet ride with my boy!
Only one horse fly tried to ruin it for us but......I killed him! LOL

OK, now to the topic of "What's in your trailer tack room???" I went shopping yesterday, mostly for groceries but got some things for my trailer too. Here's what I got, first from Dollar Tree; everything in there is $1.

Love the little bucket with the rope handle! No kidding each of these things was only $1!!! The two little square blue containers have metal handles, plates, cups and plastic utensils for lunch time! Bungee straps, kitchen utility scissors, micro fiber cloth, bottle opener/cork screw/knife, little clips with magnets on the back.

This all came from WalMart. First aid kit for me, Gilly has one in the barn that I will take when we travel, paper towels, hand sanitizer, two magnetic hooks, bottle of alcohol and a small tube of toothpaste? Why toothpaste, after getting stung last week I read that toothpaste was good for bee stings, so it's going in the first aid kit too.

This was waiting on the front porch when I returned from my ride from State Line Tack. Trailer Aid for changing a flat (hope I never have to use it!), two The Clip ties works similar to the Blocker Tie ring, there is only one panic snap, UPS lost the other one, the box was tore up when it arrived, a mit to put fly spray on Gil's face, Swat fly repellent ointment for sores and such, a brush to clean buckets and his favorite color for his hay tote. I have a pattern and was going to make him one but I saw this one in State Line for $9.99 and I can't make it that cheap so I bought it!!!

Stopped at Lowe's for this nice big heavy duty 95 qt container to keep my "stuff" in! Also a step stool to climb up on the horse with also something to sit on if I need to change boots or something. Industrial strength velcro and three hooks that stick on with sticky stuff, they hold up to 5 lbs. The velcro is for the ends of some straps I will make to hold the poo fork to the wall so it doesn't bounce around. I still need to find some heavy duty magnet hooks to hand my bag chairs on. Or maybe I will use the velcro and strapping to hold it up.
There are still things I want to get to put in the trailer and still some things I already have that will go in; like a water bucket, a 7 gallon water jug, fly mask for travel, brushes, hoof pick, extra halter and lead, flat lunge line, half bale hay bag for storing extra hay (I am going to make this out of heavy canvas, and more stuff I can't even think of yet!  But before I can add anything to the tack room I have to get the mats in. We got them the other night but three of them will need to be trimmed to fit in. the first one will have two notches cut in by the door posts, second one if ok, third one about 6 inches will be in the nose curve front and the forth one will have to be cut in half to make it 2'x5'9" to go in the rounded nose of the trailer. I am not sure just how we are going to cut 1/2" thick mats ......some kind of power tool....scissors sure won't do it! LOL

So now I ask you what's in your trailer tack room? I am really interested cause you all might have things I need but haven't thought of.
Your turn, post away!!!! :-)

…..

Something BRAND NEW for Gilly

A few weeks ago my and Kim went to look at horse trailers. This one sure caught my eye, oh, pretty and red!

This is a Corn Pro two horse slant combo stock trailer, 14 feet bumper pull. This is the tack room, has hanger for 4 saddles and 4 bridles. The saddle rack cam be lifted out and the door swung back to open the trailer all the way to the full 14 feet if you want.

This color is called Arizona Beige and is a little lighter and brighter, I'm liking this one too. Whole door swings open to the right. Has a double latch, one when you shut the door hard it catches and then the swing over catch latch.

Side view, has two tie hooks on both sides. I like the aluminum on the front and the pin striping. I looked at these trailers several years ago and didn't like them at all but they have prettied them up a bit since.

So.......on Friday my hubby took half a day off and we drove to the trailer place, about 45 minutes from home and.....it followed us home! :-) Now we live a mile and a half from a blacktopped road so that's a lots dust that gets stirred up but this color is good cause you can't tell it's really dusty! My husbands grey truck is sure dirty though!

Gilly was watching intently so I got in the trailer and waved to him, he would whinny and Pokey was watching too.

See that happy smile? Yes, I am happy we have wheels, but I have a lot of practice to do, hooking up, driving and backing up, ugh, but....since the hay is up and the fields are mowed this will be a good place to practice backing and I have Kim to help me. She has been driving her trailer around and backing for some time, practice, practice, practice.

See Gilly the dogs load up really well!!! Gonzo says he isn't so sure about this, Sophia says, hey this is pretty nice! I have to get some mats before Gilly goes for his first ride but we can practice loading for now without them.

 I don't have any use for the slant divider, don't like them and neither does Gilly so I will take it out and it will open up the air flow too and let more light in, Gilly will like that. There are also slots for putting in Plexiglas to block the air in colder months.

Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly!!! LOL Gilly says OK I got two feet in is that enough? Maybe I'll just stand here and check it out first. He did smell it all over, ahhhh, the "new car smell"!

How fast can your hind legs run behind the trailer, Gilly? He was still smelling and chewing on things in there. Not real sure if he wanted to commit to getting in all the way.

Kim took a turn with him and finally he walked up in after we opened the divider wall and the escape door, it let in more light. I think he felt a little closed in before but we will keep working at it slowly until he feels comfortable in it. The trailer does have a light in the back up on the left hand side and one in the tack area that you can turn on and off.

He was a pretty good boy, he got in four times but he still doesn't want to stay in for long. We will get it and then we will be off for trail rides in some of the State Parks. I also know some other places that has some really nice trails that we will have to trailer to. Fun times ahead for me and my Big Bay Boy!

And of course things wouldn't be complete without some comments from the ass!!! He was snorting, whined, grunting and farting because Gilly was getting all the attention. So.....I got him out so he could see the trailer too.
He sniffed and chewed put one foot in and then jumped back and said OK that's all I wanna see, how about lets eat some grass and forget about this trailer stuff, I see no need for it!

I see lots of work ahead of me! But that's OK, we have plenty of time.
Gilly's got wheels!!!

…

Bad day on the farm!

Monday I mowed the yard and started weed eating but ran out of string and couldn't get the head off the weed eater to replace the string. Had to wait for husband to come home so he could do it for me. By that time it was too late to do any more so I decided to do it on Tuesday morning.

After feeding the boys and cleaning the barn I got my tall rubber boots on, didn't want to run into a copperhead while mowing along the creek. Didn't have to worry about that!

I finished around the house started along the fence by the back of the house. When I got to the end of the yard I started around behind the propane tank.  The tank sits about 3 feet below a hill that runs up the the fence. There are two lilac bushes, a spice bush and some Peony's along the hills edge right behind the tank. I had weed eated right behind the tank at ground level and started from the Peony's up on the bank cutting the tall weeds. I felt the string hit the trunk of the smaller lilac bush....THEN...
I see a black cloud appear and time seemed to stop....no sound nothing but this black cloud.... HORNETS!!! The black cloud was hornets right in front of me about chest level, OK I must have run but I don't remember. I was at the end of the garden about 20 feet away and was being stung, a lot! I was trying to get the snap unhooked from the weedeater that was still running, finally got it off. I didn't through it on the ground but laid it down gently being stung the whole time????? I should have thrown it down and run! 15 more feet away from the still running weedeater, finally got the stinging hornets off me, turned to see where the rest of them were. Thank goodness for the propane tank, I couldn't believe it the hornets were attacking it. I grabbed the weedeater, shut it off and made a WIDE circle away from the garden, actually I was in the road walking to the other side of the house to see just how bad they got me.
this is what stung me, bald faced hornets....(picture taken from the internet)

I knew they stung my elbow, little finger, leg and stomach but how many times I didn't know. Talk about stinging, burning and itching....Holy Cow!!!! Put the weedeater on the patio went inside to strip off my clothing that was covered with grass and stuck to my skin because I was sweating,  OUCH!!!

This is what I saw when I looked out the window after about 20 minutes, they were still after the tank. Damned mean hornets!!!
I counted 5 stings but there were two more I over looked. I got stung three times on my elbow. I couldn't find the Benadryl then remembered that I had given the last two to Petey when he got snake bit!!! But I did have some generic severe sinus and allergy meds, looked at the ingredients and it was the same as Benadryl. I took two! Then hit the shower, a very painful shower! Thank goodness they didn't sting me back or my face.....I am REAL lucky that 7 stings is all I got with the amount of hornets that must be in that nest; the nest is larger than a riding helmet!!!!!

Another scary thing is I have been mowing with the big riding mower right past that nest on the hill and have come so close to hitting it with the blower guard on the mower!

  Yesterday there was a very large purple spot on the side of my finger right between the first and second joint in that finger. There is a large red spot around the top of my hand and around me thumb too.

My arm and elbow are really swollen and you can see the red where the poison has spread. I have put Benadryl cream on the stings, something called SkeeterStick and an herbal spray and still the itching is driving me CRAZY!!!! Where the redness is it's pretty hot too. I read that hornets sting is like a mix of honey bee and wasp......Holy Crap...This is my first hornet sting and I hope I never hit one of these nests again. I thought yellow jackets sting was bad.....this is about 4 times more painful and itchy!!!!

I'll tell you what, from now on when I am running the weedeater I am really going to scout out bushes and overhanging trees and look for these gray nests. I do have to admit that the hornets are beautiful a black and ivory body and the nest has the most beautiful swirls and silvery colorings I have ever seen but I think that I prefer to see them on the internet......definitely NOT in person!!!

Where have I been???

Week before last it was hot, humid and miserable (dog days are here) outside so I pretty much stayed inside....ugh! Flies are still horrible for the boys, even going out to take the dogs to the bathroom is bad, the B52's dive bomb you. I swear I can see no earthly reason for them to be alive, bastards!!!

Now on to last week, still miserable outside and Friday I mowed for almost 2 hours then picked beans to can. I also pulled the bean plants and picked off what was left of the beans so that took a lot longer. My back was killing me when I got finished, came in the house and fell on the floor trying to get the muscles to relax. Then had to cook supper so I was beat, decided to work on the beans on Saturday.

Spent all morning snapping and cleaning the beans then the rest of the day canning. All that work for 18 quarts of beans....I am starting to think that buying them in the store is sounding better and better! That evening a friend of hubby's came and mowed the hay. Husband was going to be had another inner ear infection or something that was making his balance so that he could hardly walk let along get on the tractor.

Sunday I picked tomatoes to can, not too many to pick, for some reason the tomatoes aren't doing so good this year. Only had one canner full so it didn't take too long.

Monday husband decides he is going to tedd the hay, still dizzy but sometimes husbands are very stubborn and do things they shouldn't. He had to stop several times because of the dizziness but did get it finished. We did stuff outside all day; when I was finished cleaning the barn and feeding I started for the house, got all the dogs gathered up to go in. I headed for the shower and noticed that Petey was acting funny and had something on his face. I wiped it off, got in the shower and didn't think any more about it. When I got out I noticed he had something on his face again. On closer inspection it was a brownish liquid that seemed to be leaking out of a spot where his whiskers are and he had what looked like a scrape by his nostril. Hum, his face is swollen too and it kept swelling....either a bee sting or what I thought more likely a snake bite.

Called the vet she said it was probably a bee sting to give Benadryl and the swelling should start to go down in about an hour. Nope, still swelling......

Poor Petey he was really hurting but never made a sound. By this time it's almost 9 p.m. I called the vet again and she said to bring him in first thing in the morning. Now I can see what looks like at least one fang mark on his nose, more Benadryl and a Prednisone too.

Early on Tuesday morning off we go to the vet. Petey had to stay so they could give him IV's of fluid and some antibiotics. He did NOT want to go with them when they tried to get him to the back room, he was saying, no, no, I wanna go home!!!  On the way home, I forgot to mention this, we stopped at a stable to feed, water and turn out two horses, a pony and two donkeys. Me and another gal were helping care for them for a week. The owners of the horses were on vacation and the stable manager had to go out of town on an emergency. Me and my neighbor were taking turns going over there doing the chores.

We get back home rake the hay and wait for an hour or so check it and decide to bale the first field. Husband is feeling a little better so out to the field we go. As he bales I am picking up bales and stacking them for pick up, I go get the truck and trailer to start picking up the hay bales. We only got 33 bales but when it's hot and humid it feels like a hundred. After many breaks and lots of water we got it in the barn. By this time it's 2:30 he has a doctors appointment at 4:00 so we can't get the second field baled. Head for the house and get cleaned up to leave. Just before we are ready to leave our mailman, who is a friend, stops by and says he will come back in about an hour and bale the field if we want! Oh, yes please! We figure we will be back home about 5:30, we have to pick up Petey from the vet afterward.

Things are going pretty good, the doctor says that all he can do is keep taking the medicine for dizziness and it should be gone soon? We hope....but that's another story. Pick up Petey, boy, is he glad to see us and can't wait to get in the car!!! His face is still swollen but now we have antibiotics, Benadryl and Prednisone to take for a week.

Heading home, fast....when we get here neighbors are here helping the mailman, all hay is baled and loaded onto truck and trailer. We change our clothes and help get it into the barn!  Thank goodness for good friends!! Hay is done for this year, I am SO glad....even if it does grow really good and we could get a third cutting......NO WAY!!!

Petey is doing great, the swelling is gone but you can see where the bite makes are. He is back to his old self and liking to take his meds because he gets extra canned dog food to take his pills. Hope he remembers where he got bit and doesn't go there again. We have lived here for 13 years and have never seen a copperhead so where he found this one???? There are water snakes, black snakes, milk snakes, garter snakes, black racers and many more I imagine but have never seen a copperhead. After reading info on the net about copperheads and poisonous snakes in Ohio I found that there are also two kinds of rattle snakes here too!!! YIKES! Timber rattlers and a smaller one that I can't think of the name at the moment, oh, great more bittey things to look out for! :-(

Petey three days ago with some fluid in his neck and chest. All gone now!

Petey jumping for a potato chip, he caught it and it's in the corner of his mouth, yep he is feeling so much better.

I am hoping that in the weeks that follow, I don't have to do that much work again!!! Took me three days to recover but I'll make it. I am looking forward to fall and some riding, lots of riding in new territories, new to me anyway. Why is the word territories in bold, well that's another story to be told in a few days, stay tuned!!! :-)

Gift from a special friend.....

A magnet that I received from a very special friend today; love the saying on it, so true!!  (a horse friend of course!!! hugs to you, dear friend, you know who you are!)

I have been absent from blogville for awhile, so much going on right now. Will post about it later on. Just wanted you all to know I am still here! :-)