Just Doesn't Pay To Be Nice

My nephew, his wife, and 2 little boys were coming out to the barn this afternoon to ride RolyPolyOly the Shetland Pony.

Well, after me getting out there early, packing in cocoa and supplies, hiking out into the big field to catch the pony, drag him back, tack the little biting/nipping shit up, and standing around in the 23 degree indoor arena for **45 minutes** getting nipped at and dragged around... they never showed up. Not a message, not an email, nothing on Facebook, just never bloody showed up.

So I put Roly back outside, after giving him an apple, saw Quzqo was busy digging through the snow for weeds like a starving mustang, and came home.

That'll learn me.

Quzqo, Quzqo, Who's Got The Quzqo!?

Was mightily PISSED today when I discovered somebody'd "borrowed" Quzqo's halter right off the hook on his stall, GRRRGH! So I had to get my rope halter (that I keep locked away so it doesn't get borrowed) and hike out into the snow, bullied my way past a herd of horses blocking the gate, got to the gate to his pasture...where is he?? I saw one horse about 200 yards down the fenceline, but no Quz...

Now sometimes he doesn't show up very well, being white-ish with snow on the ground, but no... there was a grey horse in the next pasture, but that was Colby... I'm thinking if he died, they should have at least called me...did somebody steal him??? Halter and all!??

I turn to look around, and there's a gray horse in the pasture next to the barn...is it...?? I saw its tail was banged at the hocks, yep, it was Quz!! (I whacked his tail off this fall as it was dragging in the mud it was so long, it'll grow back by springtime). He was in the pasture with his old buddy, Bill the Paint, and Moka the boarder horse (gorgeous chocolate sorrel!), and a black Morgan-looking horse, stuffing his face with hay. Well now...o-kay.

And he was wearing his halter...which is where it'd disappeared to, ha! Normally they turn them out w/o halters, but who knows what goes on on the weekends.

I hope that's his new permanent accommodations, at least for the winter, as they built a NICE run-in shed there, and it's literally steps from the barn door!! And those are his buddies.

Had a WONDERFUL ride on him, considering I haven't ridden in two weeks. He's such a good horse, I'm lucky to have him at this time of my life.

My niece and I are planning on me giving lessons to her oldest daughter this winter, on Quz, and he'd be a perfect lesson horse. That girl has natural riding talent, but she doesn't know equitation, per se (how to post, how to cue for the canter, how to use leg pressure, how to not get
upset and cry if the horse doesn't do what you want)...we figure I can give her lessons starting at the ground floor and maybe by summer we can do some horse shows!! (she can't even do walk/trot since she doesn't know how to post). Should be fun!

Quz' stall was immaculate, fresh sawdust, hay rack filled with nice hay, grain in his bucket, his water clean and liquid (not frozen, ha ha). I put him back outside when I got done riding since it was still early, but nice to know that nice stall awaits him later today. Quite a change from Tuesday!!

Snowed In

We've been BURIED by a major winter storm this weekend, nearly 18" new snow, drifting, horrible roads, needless to say I didn't go anywhere near the barn for days!

But today I made it out to the barn after work, I'd gotten a message from one of the boarders on FB today, wondering if I'd made it out at all. I got concerned...apparently as of last night the driveway hadn't been plowed and it was impossible to get in!

The driveway(s) was/were still unplowed, at least 18" of snow blocking the way, even a Subaru can't get through that (without a good head start). There was a set of BIG tracks but it'd drifted over and almost erased...the house was dark, Bob's Kia was parked by the house, covered in snow...but no sign of his big dually pick-up.

I ended up parking out on the road with my 4-way flashers on so nobody'd hit (thankfully it wasn't snowing out there...no lake effect bands around, though in town it was nasty!). I got down to the barn area and was greeted by a near-hysterical Willow (Bob's wife's mini Aussie Shepherd), and equally hysterical chorus of whinnies and neighs. Turned the light on, trash all up and down the aisles...Willow had gotten into the trash and had been entertaining herself with it. She was locked in the barn.

Long story short, the barn is snowed in, and the horses have all been in their stalls since Saturday night (when they were brought in). Quzqo was apeshit in his stall, NO water, just some ice at the bottom of his bucket, and his bedding, my God, it was black and saturated...obviously
it hadn't been cleaned in 3 days! I was NOT happy, needless to say.

Got Quz out and turned him loose in the arena, he rolled and then tore around a bit, with Willow chasing him.

I called my FB friend boarder and gave her an update...she and her daughters do the weekend chores and she said Bob had called her, telling her to not come in on Sunday, or Monday, as the weather was too bad, and he'd take care of the horses. I guess that didn't include cleaning stalls. Not even picking the solid piles out, GRRRRGH.

The outside horses all had their huge super-sized bales of hay, so they were set. I tried to open a door to look, but they were all iced shut, probably with big drifts on the other side. My friend said Bob said the tractor was broken, so he couldn't clear the barn or the driveway (it's got a front loader on it).

Considering how clean Quz was, it's obvious the poor boy didn't lie down to sleep. Who'd want to in inches-deep shit and soaked sawdust. I cleaned his stall (filled the entire wheelbarrow!) and put in fresh sawdust, so at least ONE horse is in a clean stall tonight.

As I was leaving, Bob showed up (and another family of boarders who also parked on the road with their flashers going) and said he'd get the tractor fixed this evening and the driveway should be cleared by tomorrow. I sure as hell hope so!