Quzqo T. Butthead

Finally had a day "off" (ha!) and made my way out to the barn after lunch! Quz was "in a mood", I could tell that when I went to catch him and he was so ignoring me that I had to drag his head up from the grass to put the halter on him.

I'll admit I was a little nervous, as I planned to take him off the property, something I haven't done RIDING since last October. Wasn't even going to try to take him the usual route where the antique hay mower stands guard and terrifies him out of his freckles! I did go the full monty in tacking him up...breastcollar and shanked bit, cell phone in pants pocket... just in case.

O, he was a mischievous little scamp of a horse, swinging his butt away from me when all I was trying to do was tie my butt-saver pad to the saddle seat...I just chased him round and round, him doing perfect turns on the forehand as he thought he was being clever, swinging his butt away...we did maybe 10 rotations before he gave up, and was probably surprised that all I did was fuss with his saddle. When the time came to actually get on, I just bribed him with a piece of carrot and he stood stock still, chewing, until my butt ALMOST hit the seat...he took off a split second before that moment, sigh.

Tried to open the indoor arena gate, he was all Drama Llama about GET THE GATE OPEN GET THE GATE OPEN I DON'T CARE IF IT'S ONLY OPEN A FOOT I'LL SQUEEZE THROUGH IT I WANT OUTOUTOUT!, he didn't buck but he did give a little sissy hop of the front end (I wouldn't dignify it by calling it a "rear"). Round and round we went until I managed to get him close enough that I could grab the gate and pull it, then I had to spur him out of the way before it swung over and smacked us!

Then we went OUT!

Of course immediately he was all Mr. Chicken, oh my gosh there's logs and horses and a wagon and a trailer and a dark spot on the ground. Creeeeping along slowly as he could, oh noes, what might be behind that tree!! I just gave him a nudge and he gave up that charade.

Instead of heading inland along the fenceline, I rode him along the road, slightly trespassing in the neighboring hay field. He didn't quite know what to make of that, having never gone that way before. We reached the dirt road about 1/2 mile away without incident.

Then it was "Oh my feet hurt on these stones", he was mincing and limping and tripping and shuffling along...I tried to trot him on the sandy shoulder of the road, and he petered out, like "oh, my feet hurt too much to trot!". That's okay, I did want to enjoy the wildflowers, and he gave me plenty of time to do that, at his arthritic snail's pace.

We neared the top of the hill when suddenly he SHOT to the left and tried to crash into the bushes! WTF???? Had a devil of a time turning him back to the road... THEN it dawned on me...that was the little game trail we take to go HOME! You little shit, BWAHAHA! Better memory than an elephant!!! Got him going straight again, he picked up the pace, was almost walking eagerly...then AGAIN he veered to the right, where a little two-track leads to the same hay field we would go home by! Oh no you don't!!!

We got to the crest of the hill, and he gave a half-hearted Drama Llama performance about not going one step further, but the spurs and the reins counteracted that idea, and he made a big production of going down the hill, insisting on zig-zagging down instead of walking straight (because the rocks hurt his feet you know...funny, the rocks don't hurt his feet when I drive him on dirt roads). Couldn't get him to trot, he just pooped out on me. I took him down a little two-track, past the bright NO TRESPASSING sign, to check for morel mushrooms...we only went a few dozen yards in, because the blackberries are growing up and wrecking that trail as well. I turned him around (beautiful turn on the hind quarters), and came back to the road.

I KNEW what would come next...he tried to veer left to go back, I wanted to go right to continue! O the Dramatics!!! We tossed our head, we balked, we pranced, we spun in circles, we snorted, we tossed our head some more. I had to circle him around until he got dizzy, then combined spurs with a slap on the rump with the reins to get him moving west like we originally did. And he sulked his way down the road.

Without warning I turned him around and we were heading back...and I got him into a canter, and the little turd broke into a hand gallop and just ran like a goofball down the road, apparently the little rocks no longer hurt his hooves!! We galloped until he slowed to a canter, then a trot, and I made him keep trotting just a little bit longer than HE wanted to. No ouchy feets I noticed!!

Uneventful ride home through the hayfield, we even stopped by the scary antique hay mower, and I let him graze a little, he didn't seem to care one way or another. I bet if I turned around and headed back he'd care!

Made it back to the barn unscathed, but both a little sweaty! That was a big personal roadblock to get past! I'm hoping for more nice rides in the future!! Without the drama llama dramatics!

I'll Do What I Want!

Rode the horse last night, there was another boarder and her daughter there, riding their new Paint mare (bought from Bob, of course). They had one lone light on in the arena... Bob doesn't want us using the big huge lights because they make his electricity bill skyrocket. So I showed them how to turn on ALL the aisle lights to illuminate the arena (lol, I don't know...does turning on 20 or so incandescent bulbs save electricity over 6 big overhead lights??).

Rode Coos, he was VERY good and actually had a little P&V in him! Enjoyed my new saddle, very comfy!

The mom and daughter left, I finished up with Coos, and was busy untacking him, when this young blond chick comes bouncing down the stairs to the arena, and blithely flicks on ALL 12 overhead lights (6 are enough to illuminant the entire lower barn and arena). I asked her how she gets to use the big lights.

She snottily said "I'll do what I want", and "Nobody's here anyway" and bounced into the arena and downstairs to get her horse.

That pissed me off mightily....Bob specifically mentions each month in the board bills to please use the SMALL lights to save electricity (and keep the board from rising), and this little ditz wants to do what she wants. Well, bitch, I don't want to pay for YOUR electricity usage! So I flicked OFF one bank of lights, flicked off ALL the aisle lights, and when I left, I flicked off the lights to the stairs as well. She was ditzing around with her horse in the arena, not noticing the light had been cut in half.

When she shuts off the lights she'll be in total darkness since I shut off the stairs light, and I also shut off the lights in the viewing room, so she'll have to stumble through that since the light switch is by the front door, allll the way down the length of the room. I should have moved some benches right in the walkway too, so she'd trip, ha!

Hate to be a snitch, but I wonder if Bob would like to know this.

Pissed me off, I'm still pissed. Little bitch. Just the kind of girl I loathed in high school...they had horses too!

Resisted the urge to key the side of her car on my way out.

.

__,_._,___

New Saddle...

Is SAAAAWEEEEEETTTT!!! Oooo, comfy, and it fits the horse GREAT, and he seems to like it! Seems light as a feather, love it already! Wish I had a trail to ride on with it, lol!!

Quz survived being back in the Big Brown pasture, no new chomps on him. In fact, he liked it so much that he refused to let Bob catch him tonight. Bob had just given up by the time I got there, he said Quz was more interested in "running in circles" than being caught, lol! Good thing I came out, as he said he was just going to leave him out if he wouldn't let himself be caught. Wouldn't blame him.

Quz was snacking on a corner of a hay pile that Bill the Paint was enjoying, and I had no trouble bringing him in. The Big Browns had already been brought in and were in their stalls, so that was nice.

Lovin' that saddle though, glad I bought it! Now to sell off the old heavy one!

Horse Social Experiment FAIL

Got out to the barn after work, and found Quzqo standing waaaaaay the hell out in the middle of the field, at least 1/4 mile out, all by himself, butt to the wind (and baby, it's a wind! And COOLLLLDDDD)

All the mares were ganged up around the round bale, stuffing themselves, poor Quz looked so little and sad out there. Even sadder, I had to hike out there to get him because he wouldn't come when I called (knee-deep snow anyone?)

Sadder still, his hoofprints in the snow were all but obliterated by the wind, which means he'd been standing there quite a while. He was a little headshy and twitchy, but I managed to halter him and he about dragged me in.

Had to whip our way past the mares that turned from the hay and started coming at us, ears pinned. He dashed through the gate, and I had to whip our way through the geldings from the other pasture blocking the way! I chased 'em all out of there, giving us a good 20-30 foot clear zone, and Quzqo heaved a HUGE sigh! It was pitiful!! Poor boy!

When brushing, I found a HUGE scalped area on his butt cheek...hair, skin, peeled right off by a bite or kick! Dammit!

So, reluctantly, I asked Bob to put him back in with the Big Browns...the enemy you know is better than the enemy you don't know. At least there there's only 4 other horses (as opposed to the 10 mares), and the hay is fed by hand, so it's spread out, not just a round bale plopped in the middle. And again, he'll have the run-in shed, since we're due for some nasty-ass cold weather, that'll be nice. And yes, it's a few feet from the barn entrance and I won't have to whip my way through a seething mob of crabby geldings like Indiana Jones!

*Sigh*

I survived Junior High, he can survive this.

On the bright side, my new saddle should arrive tomorrow! Yaay!

Just What I Need!

Another saddle!!

I've been wanting a lighter saddle for quite a while now, because my 28# leather saddle is getting too hard to lift up onto my big, tall horse's back. I used to want to keep it because of its security, but since Coos was able to buck me right up and out like nothin', so much for THAT reason.

A FB friend posted she was selling her Abetta saddle on eBay, I was all set to eSnipe it today, until I did some research, and found what my max. bid for her used saddle was about what NEW ones were going for on eBay, so that wouldn't do! More research also revealed THIS saddle for a very reasonable price, and do I wait and maybe get the first saddle for less, or take the risk of being outbid on the first saddle, and meantime having the 2nd saddle snatched up with that BIN?

So, casting caution to the wind, I snatched up the 2nd saddle, should be here later this week! Wheee!

Need to take pix of my leather saddle & stick it up on Craig's List for a few months, then when spring comes, put it on eBay when there's more of a market for such things.

Quzqo might appreciate a 15# saddle as well! AND being synthetic, it won't go green and fuzzy in late summer with all the humidity at the barn.

Quzqo Hefner

FINALLY I was able to get out to the barn in the day time to observe Quzqo in his new pasture situation (even yesterday I got out there around 4 and he was already inside in his stall). He was doing pretty much what I figured...stuffing his face at the remains of a round bale of hay, and off in the distance a small group of horses were frolicing in the snow. He was sharing the bale with that cool varnish roan Appy, happy as clams!

Apparently the mares he's in with are more like teenagers, VERY young looking, maybe 2 yr olds...a couple of chestnuts, a VERY tall, lanky chestnut, a gorgeous dappled buckskin, and they were all cavorting and scampering like young'uns! They saw me walking across the pasture and immediately came over to investigate. They weren't very respectful of my space, especially the frighteningly tall one (she's 16hh if she's an inch!) but I shooed them off with the halter and lead. They just about giggled and squealed and scampered around like junior high girls! Yeesh!

Quz looked at me like "yeah?", and kind of meandered out of the way of the capering girlies. Had a bit of a battle to the gate, so many silly fillies here and there. They weren't being mean or aggressive in the least, just curious and giggly (if horses giggled). Quz was kind of cool and calm and Mr. Suave about it! He even walked out of the gate calmly with no rush or concern (the same gate that trapped him against the hot wire weeks ago)

As we were walking to the barn it seemed he cast a glance at the old pasture where the Big Browns were standing, and I could almost sense him going "neener neener neener!"

One of his pasturemates was being ridden in the indoor ring, and the young girl who is leasing her rode over to say "hi". The mare and Quz sniffed noses, and he took a little playful nip at her nose! The little smoothie!!

Maybe they need to change the name of that pasture to The Playboy Mansion or the Bunny Ranch, ha!

Glad he's happier now. That makes me happy.

A New Pasture for Quzqo

After noticing even MORE down-to-the-raw-skin bites on Quzqo's rump yesterday, Bob asked me how I liked Quz in the new pasture. I said I liked it there, but he doesn't, so Bob offered to move him back to his old pasture, which is full of new horses. So we're going to try that today, HOPE it goes well. Quz has been very unhappy, I can tell, and that one Big Brown with the star on his head charged at Quz yesterday, ears flattened, and I had to shoo him off with the lead rope. Quz also BOLTS out the gate to get away, and slipped on the ice yesterday, scared me, I don't want him to fall and get hurt!!

So we'll try the new-old pasture. It's got 4 mares and a gelding in it, hope it works out. It's also 30 acres, so he's got room to get away, and his usual water trough so hopefully he'll drink something!!!

It's also got two big round hay bales...he'll love that!

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!

Horse vs Gate

I'm seriously hating those big brown horses in Quzqo's pasture! I was bringing him in through the gate. the gate opens IN to the pasture...two of the Big Browns crowd behind him, he panics and lunges through the gate, which wasn't quite open all the way...he gets JAMMED between the
gate and (tah dah) the electric fence!

Horse is wedged and freaking out, he finally rears back, lunges to his right, rears up and spins away, dragging the lead rope with him. I beat the other horses out of the way (ha, they didn't know I was there), Quzqo goes maybe 150 feet before stopping.

And he's holding his left hind up and doesn't want to put weight on it.

SHIT!

No blood, no bones sticking out of the skin, I'm crying and cursing, I do catch him, and he eventually puts his leg down and gingerly puts some weight on it. I gave him his apple, which he ate, but he's shivering.

I get him to take a step, no problem, he's limping a little and when he stops, he raises the leg up. We slowly make our way back to the gate. Of course he wants NOTHING to do with that.

I managed to shoo the damned Big Browns away from the gate, Quz wants out, but he doesn't want to go through the gate. I managed to get the gate waaaay open enough that he scooted through, and I got it shut just as one of the Big Browns was starting to lunge through it. THAT bastard deserves to get fence-zapped!

One wire of the fence is snapped.

Got Quzqo inside, he was walking carefully, but no noticible limp. When I tied him up, he raised his hind leg and didn't want to put weight on it. I felt a lump on his stifle, don't know if that was just a contracting muscle or a swelling or what...nothing unusual further down, nothing broken or out of place. He got upset when I ran my hand down his leg and raised the leg further up and out and started shivering, poor boy.

About that time Bob was doing the grain, so I told him what happened (telling myself to NOT CRY DAMMIT! and I didn't), so he came and checked Quzqo over...Quz was NOT thrilled, he doesn't like Bob one bit. He managed a quick check of the leg before the horse swung his whole body away, and he was putting his weight on the leg, no problem bending it. so Bob figures he might have gotten burnt by the fence, and he'd keep an eye on him.

I sent Quzqo to his stall with some bute and applesauce mixed in his grain...he was a jumping, twitching MESS, just leading him down the aisle he was spooking and shying and just near hysterics...can't blame him one bit!

Poor baby. I don't go out there for a day, and when I do show up, I throw him into the electric fence!

Payback's a bitch, horse, ha ha!

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UPDATE

One day later, there's no limp, no swelling, no tenderness! Thank God!

Those damned Big Browns (there's 4 of them, though one's a sorrel) were blocking the gate again, so this time I took my driving whip out with me and chased those assholes away. Quz got all upset because I was waving a whip around, but he WANTED to come to me, poor boy. He should know by now that pasture-whipping is for the OTHER horses, not him (I've had to do it enough times). Chased the Big Browns far enough away and was able to get Himself out the gate (opened it waaaaay wide for him) without incident.

He's so nervous and frightened of everything right now...hope his normal mellow personality takes over the controls again.

LOL, Carlos the Spaniard (yeah, right) was driving the tractor in the indoor arena, and he stopped, came into the tack room, and was pantomiming something at me (remember, he's also deaf as well as "Spanish"), I didn't understand, so he found a pencil and a scrap of paper and wrote "Are U Ride Horse?" and I laughed and shook my head "no", so we went back to piling up sawdust with the tractor in the arena. I'll give him that, he's VERY courteous to the boarders, and if you're riding, and he has to take the tractor out, he closes the gate and the door behind him. Bob just leaves doors/gates wide open to the world, never mind if your horse likes to bolt for those escape routes, ha ha!

Cute Ignorant Child Quote of the Day

Today they had a big Halloween shindig at the barn, I can't recall the last time so many people were there...I have NO idea who the hell they were either...a dozen or so were boarders, but the rest, dunno. LOTS and lots of kids...noisy obnoxious destructive little rug rats that made my Nieces' kids look like angels (HA!) Running and screaming and singing and stomping and tossing balloons out of the viewing room window into the indoor arena, climbing on the hay bales and ripping out big handfuls of second cutting hay and throwing it at each other. AUUUGH!

I was brushing Quzqo in our usual spot, outside the original tack room, which has "TACK" in big wooden letters on the door.

One of the kids walks up, asks if he can pet the horse, then asks "Is your horse's name 'Tack'?"

LOL! Guess it made sense, his name was on the door, right?

I'm In Love!

There's a huge consignment auction near here tomorrow, and this afternoon my ex-neighbor and I went to scope it out. First damned thing I see is this AMAZING two-wheeled horse cart!! It's gorgeous!! It's all I can think about now, LOL!!!

Turns out to be a Meadowbrook, painted dark maroon, made by the Hoosier Buggy Shop in Topeka, IN (just south of the Michigan border), they're still in business...it was made in 1975 and other than some paint scuffies and a small (less than 1") chunk of rubber missing from one of the wheels, it appears to be in awesome shape! Amish made, and yes, it will fit Quzqo!!!

So now I'm all a'twitter about it, dare I? Dare I not? Should I wait? I'd really love to upgrade to a Wagner cart but those start at $2300.00...

Only drawback to this one is you have to get in from the rear and there's no way to bail out in an emergency. I dunno. I'll probably bid on it, what the hell, if it stays under $300. I can drive down to Topeka and buy new wheels if I need!

The auction site is about one mile from the barn, so it wouldn't be much trouble to get it there if I can't employ either my brother or my neighbor with their flatbed trailers. Worse comes to worse, I can tie the shafts to my luggage rack and drive very slowly down the shoulder of the road to the barn, LOL!

What do you think, sirs?

Even the leather bits are in good shape, the upholstery is great, no cracking or tears, the shafts are solid, the wheels aren't wobbly in the least.

Swooon!

====================
UPDATE

No cart, y'all can relax! I didn't even go NEAR it so as to not feel the pangs of impending loss!

Don't know what the cart went for, since I left before they even got to it. I'd rather NOT know!

Hit the barn on my way home and brought in the new cart-less horse...there's this new family of boarders who annoy the HELL out of me...it's a BIG family, lots of pre-teen boys and girls, they have a big TB named "Moose". And for SOME reason they insist on leading him around by his halter. No lead rope, just a hand on the halter. I mentioned it in a light-hearted manner to two of them, but they just looked at me like blank-eyed cows, so I think I'll just MYOB and if they get their fingers torn out of their sockets, well, sucks to be them.

Maybe Moose doesn't like to be lead with a rope, or tied...from his race track days, I don't know. The one girl was leading him around the arena in her SANDALS and she let out a huge scream and ran away, leaving Moose to wander...yep, he stepped on her. Gee, if he was on a lead rope, your feet would be further away from the horse's...duuhh!

Lots of yelling and fighting and all that loud kid crap that reminds me of my niece's family, including the threats of "if you can't behave go sit in the car!", ha ha! Poor Quzqo had to listen to all that, I made my escape!

Now I'm all the more determined to save up this winter for that lovely Wagner Pleasure Cart!

Driving Around The Neighborhood

Took Quzqo for a drive yesterday, it was SO nice out, no bugs, not hot, no wind. Just as we were leaving, Bob and his extended family and friends were all returning from a trail ride (that I wasn't invited on, grumble) (not that I would have gone, ha ha)...I'd wondered why there were 10 cars in the parking lot but no people, they were all riding! Happily nobody spooked at the horse and cart and Quz didn't spook at the long line of horses coming down the road at us!

Just as they got down into the field off the road, Bob's horse spooked and bounced around sideways....so I'm not the only one (and no, he wasn't riding an Arabian!)

We went our usual "around the block" route (which is about 5 miles of road driving), and were approaching my friend's house and I was surprised to see...my ex-neighbor's car in the driveway! I saw her disappearing around back, and my friend's Lab, Chester, was bouncing around in the yard. What the heck, I drove Quz up the driveway and into the side yard. Chester barked at us, which brought my friend around the side of the house!

The ex-neighbor was visiting as they were going to go into the back field to hunt mushrooms, and were in the process of getting their riding mower out of the garage so the neighbor could ride out there (too far for her to hobble with her bum knee). I offered to give her a ride IF the cart could fit down the trail. Course it was wide enough, since that's what they drove their tractor/trailer down doing syrup this past spring!

I was SO pleased with Quz, he just marched right through the back yard, ignoring Chester, ignoring cars, trees, back yard stuff, and we followed the friend down the woodsy pathway (she had to pick up the pace cuz Quzqo was all enthused about this new place to go for once! Mighta run her over if she slowed down). About 100 yards into the woods we came into a clearing where the neighbor got out to go search for mushrooms.

I let Quz graze while we waited, feeling like the taxi driver in "Black Beauty", ha ha! At least it wasn't snowing. I got bored after 10 minutes or so, and tried to get Quz to step around the fire pit and move someplace else, but he started acting upset about SOMEthing... this ignorant Monkey took too long to notice he'd about rubbed his BRIDLE OFF!!! His right blinker was down on his cheek, the left blinker was in the middle of his forehead, one ear was behind the crownpiece, holy shit!!

I hollered for help from the other ladies but they were too far away and would have been useless anyway (now that I think about it). Quz started lunging forward in a panic, I got him stopped and jumped out of the cart (THAT is why I never want a Meadowbrook cart!) and ran to his head and managed to pull the bridle back to where it was supposed to be! Goofy horse!!

The ladies were done with their hunt, only finding a couple of giant puffballs but nothing else edible, so the neighbor climbed back in the cart, and we headed back down the path. Quz was more than happy to leave, he KNEW he was heading home!

We stopped in the back yard, the neighbor got out and Quz snagged some more lovely domestic grass from the lawn, and after a bit more chitchat, I pointed the horse towards home and he was on his way, don't try to stop him!!!

That horse never ceases to amaze!

Captain Obvious Rides a Horse

Had a good time with Quzqo yesterday, took him for a drive until he started limping and acting unhappy...he was limping on the leg his knee cut is on, so I didn't know what was up! So we turned around to head back, and within the second the little bugger picked up the pace and merrily trotted, limp-free, back to the barn! He kept trying to slow down but I kept him trotting...make him re-think his little plan!

ANYway, when we got back to the barn I sat on the hill right by the barn and let Himself graze on the knee-high grass there... meanwhile a new boarder and his kids were hand grazing their horse behind us. The dad had put the little girl on the horse's back, and the boys were jealous. All I could see was DISASTER ALERT (read too much Fugly Horse of the Day I'm afraid)... The boys were about 10 or 11, both VERY hefty lads (if you catch my drift). All I know is suddenly I heard thudding hoofbeats and a THUD! I got up and peeked over the hill, one of the boys was slowing getting up from the ground, rubbing his butt, and the dad had the horse by the halter, asking the boy if he was all right.

Obviously the horse didn't care for the little big boy on him bareback, ha ha...and thankfully the dad didn't take it out on the horse like some assholes might. The kid was trying very hard not to cry, and was moving very slowly. "That HURT!" he kept saying repeatedly. Like, duuuuh! Ya think???

Later after I put Quz away, they were coming into the barn with the horse, Dad still had a death grip on the lead right up by the halter, and the boy lamented to me that he'd gotten bucked off!!! I said yeah, I got bucked off a month ago and I'm still recovering. Guess that wasn't what he wanted to hear, ha ha.

Last I heard as they disappeared into the back barn was "Getting bucked off HURTS!"

Guess he won't whine that it's unfair that sis got to sit on the horse any more.

Coulda been a lot worse. Thank goodness for the Michigan Equine Liability Law (i.e. if you kill yourself on a horse, it's your own damned fault)

P.S. Quzqo WAS a perfect gentleman on our drive, other than the "Oh I'm Lame" theatrics. No spooking, no silliness, but I could tell his heart just wasn't in the whole driving thing because he slogged out onto the road like a slug on sedatives. But at least he behaved.

The Day After the Day After the Bowen Therapy

Paging Rod Serling, Rod Serling, please pick up the white courtesy phone! (do they even have those any more?)

Okay, I'm keeping an open mind about this Bowen stuff and all. I did my 3/8 mile hike out to the pasture to catch Quzqo, and he dragged me the 3/8 mile back to the barn. Brushed him without incident, he let me doctor up his new greasy heel infection (love rainy weather!), didn't frankly notice anything particularly different about him.

His nose is getting sunburned and it's starting to crack and peel, so I'd been putting aloe vera gel on it. This usually means a big Drama Queen battle, the instant I raise my goo-smeared fingers towards his face UP goes the head and he keeps his head as high as he can so I can't reach him. If I pull him down with the halter, he moves backwards. Usually I have to blindside him with a quick dab to the nose...as soon as he feels the gel on his nose, he's like "Oh, that stuff" and lowers his head and allows me to massage it in, probably enjoying its cooling smoothness on his chapped nose.

So tonight I'm ready for battle, UP goes the head...I wait a moment, then suddenly, he lowers his head back down, arches his neck prettily, and allows me to apply the gel right then and there without a single bit of fuss! Couldn't believe it, but was true, the first time that's ever happened!

Now the therapy lady did say the Therapy would help settle him down...is this something significant, or just a coincidence? Dunno.

Might ride him tomorrow, see what's different there, if anything.

DooDooDooDoo (Twilight Zone theme)

Blam! Shot Right Down!

Whoops! Looks like the retail price of one of those neato carts is (*gulp*) $2300.00. Yoiks! Cripes, could get a nice Meadowbrook for $900! Ah well, dreams are nice and don't cost anything.

Will just tighten the bolts on my cart, maybe give it a new spray coat of Rustoleum, and enjoy the view of the horse's butt cheeks.

To Dream The Impossible Dream

Well, probably not "Impossible", but bet I'll have to sell off some of the horse collection to pay for it!

Was looking through my web browser bookmarks this morning, and came across this in my "Model Horse" category. I'd assumed it was for model-scaled vehicles, but no, it's for Quzqo-scaled carts:
It's definitely an upgrade from my EZ Entry Cart, and I love the big solid wheels and the extra height (you can look OVER the horse's butt instead of right at it!). I emailed them for prices, so we shall see, I'll have all winter to save up for it, and if I can sell off my old cart, that'll make a huge dent in the price right there.

Nothing at all wrong with the old cart, but I feel now I'm totally hooked on driving, so it's okay to take off the training wheels and graduate to a Big Girl Cart!

I saw a couple of these at the Kentucky Horse Park this past summer, and they are NICE! Hopefully not ridiculously nice (price-wise). We shall see!

Day After Bowen-ing

Stopped at the barn on my way home from work, and found Himself snagging life-sustaining bits of grass from the worn-down pasture...getting near the end of the season, all the good grass has been eaten. Never mind inches away there's shin-high luxurious grass porn so green and sumptuous it's all I can do to not eat it myself. BUT, one day, years ago, a horse had pooped there. The poop is gone, but of course that grass is forever tainted according to the Canon of the Horse, so they'd rather gnaw desultorily on dried Canadian thistle stems than eat poop-grass. It's a horse thing, you wouldn't understand. (Hm, but I merrily put horse poo on my garden and eat the lovely green beans and tomatoes that benefited from that. Maybe I better investigate)

ANYway...Quzqo saw me marching through the weeds toward him, and he left off his thistle-gnawing and walked right up to me. It was so hard to not pat him, but I did give him his peppermint (crap, I forgot to buy peppermints at WalMart today! Better look under the car seats cuz I'm all out!). Managed to halter him without making contact, and he about dragged me to the gate. He didn't want a drink, he wanted IN and he wanted IN NOW!

His leg injury is looking well, so we didn't even stop to smear some Swat on it. Straight to his stall, where Injustice of Injustices, NO FOOD! Oh Noes! He did bump me while he was spinning around to frantically check his grain bucket (it too, was empty), I hope that didn't upset his nerves or Chi or fascia or whatever, that little contact.

Other than his near-hysteria at the sight of an empty hay rack, I can't say I noticed anything too different about him. But it hadn't been 48 hours yet. We'll see what this evening brings!

Bowen, Bowen, Bowen, keep dem dogies Bowen

Bowen Therapy. Ever hear of it? Me neither. Apparently it's a "gentle, non-invasive therapy that helps the whole body naturally rebalance, repair, and heal itself". A friend of mine on Facebook was also a friend at the Arabian show barn where I used to board, and is a practitioner of this new holistic therapy. A friend at the barn (current barn) asked her to take a look at her daughter's horse, because apparently he'd been bolting and bucking and generally endangering the girl's life.

I made a point of stopping by the barn at the time of their appointment, as I was curious, and wanted to see my old friend again. She worked with the horse, it looked like massage with a little chiropractic involved. So I went on out and rounded up Quzqo to bring back in for spa day.

When their session was done, the Bowen therapist came over to visit, and admire the horse (of course). Immediately she was struck by his "energy"....it was apparently radiating off of him like heat waves from blacktop pavement. She held her hands out and just "felt" all that "energy". I was a little amused because right then Quz had his head hanging down, his ears sort of at half-staff, and a hind foot cocked, probably just waiting to be escorted to his dinner.

She ooed and aahed, and put her hand to her face and exclaimed how HOT they were, just HOT from all that hot Arabian Energy...she touched my arm and yes, her hands were hot, but it was summer after all. But hey, I've witnessed some pretty unexplained things with horses over the years, to who am I to say yeah or nay (or neigh).

She tried to touch Himself on the neck, UP went the head, out bulged the eyes, No Touchee!!! She backed off and massaged the air above his back for a few seconds, keeping an eye on his head, looking for some signs of relaxation like licking and chewing or a big yawn. He obliged with a huge jaw-cracker of a yawn, which she celebrated as a "release" of tension and anger. Well, he was yawning when I brought him in from the pasture... maybe that was a tense situation he needed release from, I don't know.

Well, we caught up a bit, and she left, and I threw the horse back in his stall.

Couple of days later I came back to the barn, and as I was leading Quz back to his stall, just for shits and giggles, I stopped him, and put my palms against my face...okay, they were warmish. Got that. Then I held them about six inches away from Quzqo's side about where his heart would be... No B.S. now, I SWEAR I felt hot heat just pouring off of him. Like a radiator! It tingled! I put my hands on my face again, they were hot!! I touched the horse himself, his fur was cool, since we were in the shade. None of that blast furnace heat I felt seconds ago.

As I said, I've witnessed stranger things in the equine world, so...there might be something.

I didn't think Quzqo was in any particular pain, he's certainly not arthritic, hasn't sustained any injury other than his leg cut (which is still healing nicely, it was deeper than I originally thought, but the joint isn't involved). Maybe he torqued himself bucking me off, other than that, he hadn't exhibited anything out of the ordinary.

But when my friend at the barn scheduled another session with the therapist, she (the therapist) emailed me to see if I'd be interested in having Quzqo done. She thought maybe she could help with his hyper sensitivity (No Touchee!!!) and spooking behavior. I know what benefits massage, TTouch therapy and chiropractic helped my old horse, Tezlu, and Quz won't let me massage him, so maybe this might help out. Why the heck not?

So yesterday we had our appointment. She worked first with the show horse, lightly massaging him here and there, stretching this and that. The horse seemed to enjoy it thoroughly...VERY much, if you get my drift (he's a boy... hint hint), and at the end his head and ears were drooping, his tail was swishing slowly, and he looked like the most contented horse on the planet. I thought to myself 'if she can get Quz into that state, I'm sold!'

I brought Quzqo out of his stall where he'd been busy pitching a hissy because there was NO FOOD in there! He marched amicably down the aisle, and into the arena, probably wondering what his Monkey was up to now.

Uh oh, there was another Monkey in the arena. In his experience, that usually means an injection in some part of his body, and I could see he was tensed up, not trusting this new Monkey one bit.

She did some long-distance massage, again remarking on the amount of energy radiating out of him (he does crackle some days, for sure!), and showed me how to calm him by repetitively pulling my hand down the lead rope without touching the actual rope...somehow pulling the energy out of the horse and communicating like another horse. I refrained from making a remark about incense and aromatherapy, maybe some Yanni on the radio. But the horse seemed to enjoy it, and curled his neck around to snuffle at her, at which she pleaded "don't let him bite me!" I guess that's a common reaction she's gotten in the past.

He tolerated that for a few more seconds before backing away, like "Nuh uh, that's enough of that!". She repeated it, he enjoyed it for a bit, then backed away. At this she got kind of misty eyed and emotional, and proclaimed "he's saying it's nice you want to be my friend, but why would anybody want to be MY friend? I don't deserve it."

Course I teared up as well, my poor horsie! He doesn't have any horse friends, hanging out by himself in the field, and avoids the others in the pasture (especially that blue roan that pins his ears at him). My poor, poor boy!

So we kept reassuring him with the rope-stroke (oo, naughty!), and when he backed away, she'd go on to something else. His withers were tight, his poll was tight, his back was tight, he dragged his hind legs (he's always done that, I chalked it up to laziness...too much effort to lift those feet). So for the duration she massaged when he allowed it, massaged long-distance when he didn't, let him take breaks where I walked him around, back to rope-stroking and massage and forehead-tapping (he's supposed to like that she said, and he didn't draw away, so maybe he does). We lost count of the "releases" through huge gaping yawns, at least 20, maybe more. Plenty of licking and chewing, plenty of nibbling and nuzzling (and I didn't even have any treats).

At least three times I heard the bones in his neck and spine "adjust" with loud pops, though she was barely touching him (unlike the chiropractor with his mallet and rubber chisel). Things were progressing very well, until the inevitable happened.

The barn owner started wheeling the hay cart around. Game Over, man! It's DINNER!!! No, he wasn't agitated because he was stressed, he was stressing because all the other horses were getting hay and he'd starve to death trapped in the arena with the funny rope-stroking monkeys!!

I walked him and tried to find a spot in the arena where he couldn't see the delectable second cutting hay being handed out to all and sundry. The therapist worked a bit more, and once dinner service was over, Quzqo focused back on the task at hand, namely lipping at anything he could reach.

Put a gun to my head, I still couldn't say exactly what-all she did, but a few things she pointed out afterwards were different. His back looked flatter, he didn't quite have that deep a dip behind the withers that he had been developing. His butt was looser and flobbier, he had actual floppy man-boobs, being all relaxed on a muscular level. And his right fore hoof now looked at a longer angle than the left, because his shoulder was more relaxed.

I'm not supposed to ride him for 48 hours, so I'm looking forward to seeing what's different. Heck, the Rx is I'm not even supposed to TOUCH him for 48 hours, just the barest minimum such as putting on a halter, or putting Swat on his cut. No petting, no patting, no brushing, no full-body hugs. That will be harder on ME than him. But we don't want to disrupt the healing of the nerves and muscles. Of course he's going to flop himself on the ground and roll and roll, that won't mess up his fascia, but if I were to pat him on the neck...

So we shall see what happens, and if there's marked improvement in his behavior. Apparently the other horse had been dramatically changed from a bolting, fearful menace to a proudly cantering, on-the-bit paragon of equine performance. Don't quite color me skeptical just yet.

For more information on Bowen therapy, there's plenty online information!