Month: November 2020

Sometimes I forget how emotional and ridiculous Henry can be, y’all. I made a big mistake this week.

The barn owners left on Monday for their winter home in Florida. They took Presto’s 2yo friend with them so he can start getting some life experience, so that leaves me with only 3 horses here this winter – Henry, Presto, and their mutual friend Quinnie. Henry lived with Quinnie last winter, and Presto has lived with her all summer/fall. Henry has also lived with Presto before, albeit on a very limited scale. Either way, all of them are quite familiar with each other and have been turned out together before. For the winter Presto and Quinnie, who live outside 24/7 the rest of the year, get a stall in the barn and they come inside at night. The easiest thing, therefore, was to also turn them all out together. Henry can sometimes be a jerk to horses that are submissive to him (if he senses weakness he will exploit it), but they all know each other and there’s plenty of space so I figured they’d settle in and work it out.

And at first, they did. Quinnie didn’t want Henry coming too close to Presto for the first few hours, but there was no major drama. They grazed together, they tromped through the mud at the edge of the pond together, they shared hay, and Henry and Presto even cantered playfully in circles together.

Until I made my mistake, that is.

The next day was a day off for Henry, but I wanted to quickly try to film an entry for an online show’s Horsemanship class with Presto. Without really even thinking about it, I went out with a carrot, got Presto, and brought him in. I groomed him, tacked him up, went to the arena, and filmed our entry.

(ok TRIED to film it… I am REAL SHIT on video y’all, nothing good came out of my two tries)

Anyway, I spent about an hour with Presto, he got a lot of attention and pets and treats, and then I put him back out and started cleaning stalls. The trouble began almost immediately. I don’t know what set Henry off – the fact that Presto got treats, the fact that Presto got attention and he didn’t… I dunno. But Henry started RELENTLESSLY and aggressively chasing him across the pasture, taking chunks out of him as they went. I had to get in there and break it up before he trapped him in a corner. That gave Presto the opportunity to seek protection behind Quinnie, who Henry won’t challenge.

And so it went the rest of the afternoon. If Presto wandered more than 3′ outside of Quinnie’s protective bubble, Henry was on him in an instant. As a result, poor Presto absolutely velcroed himself to Quinnie, which really only served to irritate HER too. They came in for the day, had a time out and a chance to reboot, and Henry got chewed out.

When I turned them out the next morning, all seemed fine again. Presto was very aware of where Henry was and stayed out of his way, but Henry wasn’t being overly aggressive towards him or feeling inclined to try to chase him. So when it came time for riding I tried a different approach. This time I got Henry out first, made sure to fawn over him to the point where he was getting annoyed, rode him, gave him carrots, and turned him back out. THEN I went and got Presto. Of course, the whole time I was giving Henry attention, Presto left Quinnie grazing in the back to come stand up at the fence and stare at me. These two. I swear.

Anyway, that seemed to work way better. Henry still isn’t being overly NICE to Presto, but he hasn’t chased him again at all or tried to pin him in a corner or take any more chunks out of him. When I put Presto back in the pasture Henry seemed content to just ignore him, which is preferable, and Presto has been able to un-velcro himself from Quinnie a bit (much to her relief).

It’s possible that the whole situation was a fluke, or that something else happened to set Henry off that day. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen some crappy/sulky behavior from him after I give too much attention to other horses though. Usually he just gets extra sassy toward me. It’s tough to say 100% what set him off, since it admittedly doesn’t take much with him. His emotions are always dialed up to an 11.

But until they settle in with each other a bit more and Henry stops caring so much, I guess I’ll be getting him out first every day. On his days off he’ll just get groomed and have a cookie and then go back out, I suppose. For a horse that pretends to hate attention so much, he sure is a freakin drama queen.

The boys finally had an appointment with our favorite chiropractor last week! I’ve been wanting to get them adjusted since the summer, but there are only two chiros in town that I trust – one was on maternity leave, and the other I left 3 messages but they never called me back. Last month the one on maternity leave started scheduling again, so I was quick to jump on an appointment for both of the boys.

Presto has never had any chiropractic work done, or any bodywork at all for that matter, so this was totally new for him. I knew that he at least had a rib or two out – you could clearly SEE them – and this horse plays so rough that I really wanted to be sure he was good to go before we embark on his “real” riding career. I mean, I’ve literally watched him galloping so fast that he wipes out and goes WHOMP onto his side on more than one occasion. I told the vet to do whatever she thought he needed, whether that was chiro and acupuncture and electroacupuncture combined, or any of the three. I trust her judgement.

She started with a basic exam, going over his body and looking for any soreness. He really didn’t show much of anything, but then again he’s pretty stoic, at least compared to Henry (you so much as look at that creature wrong and he’s like OMG I’M BEING MURDERED IN BROAD DAYLIGHT so okay maybe he’s not the best basis of comparison). She could definitely see and feel some areas that needed adjustment, but not really much of anything to warrant acupuncture. So she got her big bale stool thingy out and got to work on the chiropractic adjustment.

He was definitely a little confused about what she was doing, but he was super tolerant and patient about everything. She started at the front and worked her way back, slowly and methodically making the adjustments. The good thing is that he’s such a rubbery Gumby horse that the adjustments were REALLY easy… just a little manipulation and boom, it was done. Also very different from Henry the marble slab who tenses up and resists everything you try to do to him. Presto just thought this lady was weirdly obsessed with his butt, but ok. He did have quite a few things that needed adjustment, including the ribs I could so clearly see.

That’s what happens when you’re a rough and tumble kid, I suppose.

The good news is that even the next day I could actually see a physical difference in his body. The obviously “out” ribs were gone, and his little roach back that he has (which tends to come and go a bit with his growth spurts) was pretty much gone. She guessed at the time that unlocking everything in that area might help it, and she was right. Now I feel like a dumbass for not having done chiro for him all along, especially when he’s growing. I didn’t even realize how much difference it would make.

Presto was relatively quick and easy, then we moved on to Henry. He is not so quick and easy. The horse is a walking ball of tension, always has been, probably always will be, and thus he always needs more bodywork and is more difficult to work on. He got his usual full array of chiro adjustment, acupuncture, and electro-acupuncture across his topline.

It’s much harder to see any kind of results with this horse, but I will say that the next time I got on to ride him he was WILD and wanted to GALLOP and felt quite fluid every time he tried to run away with me. So, uh, success?

The vet didn’t see a need to schedule immediate follow-up appointments for either of them, just a general couple months type of recommendation for Henry, and Presto whenever he starts to feel different or seems like he’s growing again and looking weird. I explained that I would prefer he NOT grow anymore thanks, and asked if there was an accupressure point I could use to suppress growth. Apparently not.

Either way, I think they’re both tuned up and good to go for a little while now. Presto’s workload is about to start increasing a little bit since he’s had his break and his bodywork, and now we know heading into his 4yo year that he’s probably the type that could really benefit from having chiro as part of his overall health and wellness plan. Duly noted.

Well friends, as of this past Saturday I am officially a t!ny h0use dweller! I really started moving early last week, putting a few boxes in my truck every time I came out to the barn, so by Saturday pretty much the only stuff left to move was the bed and the dogs.

Our bed is ginormous, a California King, and although we knew it would fit in the bedroom since we had measured multiple times, I was still a little worried that it would be obtrusive or ridiculous or make it hard to navigate through the house and/or bedroom. And while the bed IS huge and semi-ridiculous (and takes up pretty much the whole room) it works just fine in there, and there’s sufficient space to maneuver past and around it. I’m definitely glad we went for this model and did a back entrance/back porch… if we didn’t have that the bedroom would definitely feel like a cave and the house would feel a lot smaller. With it though, you just kind of flow through the bedroom onto the back porch. It feels so much bigger that way.

Once we got the bed unloaded and in place, we finally put up the very first thing we ever purchased for this house. Well… the first thing that SO purchased. He got me this black horsehead door knocker for my birthday in 2019, when we were first starting down this road, and I have to say I think it looks pretty bitchin’ on the black door.

I also discovered fairly quickly that some of our stuff (that I hadn’t even given a second thought to) just isn’t t!ny h0use sized. Like our giant crockpot. It took up like half of a cabinet, and cabinet space is very precious here. So I sent that one back to the other house with SO (since he’s staying behind for a few months to get our other house ready to rent) and bought a new, smaller crockpot. It fits much better, it was worth spending $20 on a new crockpot to save the space. The old one will get donated when SO moves out here.

Unpacking boxes and putting things in cabinets was the beginning of the learning curve. I’ve watched and read enough by now to have seen a lot of tips about maximizing storage, and about going vertically with things whenever possible to make the most of the space you have. I had already gotten little wire shelves and stacking baskets to go in the cabinets, and made use of them in the bathroom and kitchen and pantry. Everything fits pretty well, with a couple cabinets to spare. Granted, I only brought a small portion of our dishes and kitchen stuff with us, so while everything fits great now, we’re definitely gonna have to make a lot of cuts when SO moves over too. I already warned him.

I also got my stuff set up in the closet. I took the smaller part of the L-shaped shelves and rods, because I actually have fewer clothes than SO does. Especially after my massacre when I went through a few weeks ago and got rid of at least half of my clothes. I thought I was down to very little, but everything juuuust fits in my smaller part of the closet (with my sock and underwear drawer on the floor on SO’s side – it’s one of those stacking drawers so I figured his could go on top of mine). So… I guess “very little” is the right amount. I do have one bin slid under the bed with my show breeches and summer clothes, but none of it had to be relegated to the loft, so we’ll call that a win. I did spread my stuff out a bit in the closet for now since I can, and I stashed the dog food bin in the closet too (once they’re through this current bag I’m getting them different bin that will fit better elsewhere), so maybe I’m cheating a little but whatever.

Saturday night was officially my first night in the new house, and I learned some things. First of all – the incinerating toilet is pretty darn cool. It was running while I was sitting out on the back porch, meaning the vent fan was about 10′ away from where I was sitting, and aside from a few minutes of a slight burning paper smell when it first started the burn cycle, it was odor-free. I’m pretty impressed with it so far. I also learned, the second I turned out all the lights to go to bed, just how many freakin LED displays there are in this house and ALL OF THEM felt like they were shining directly into my face. I’m a very light sleeper and the displays from the fridge, oven, and microwave were just too much. Note to self – have to sleep with the bedroom door closed. Also the little reading light which I hooked onto my headboard to serve as a lamp has an LED dot on it’s control buttons too. As does the smoke detector right above my pillow. As does the mini split in the bedroom. Fucks sake. That first night was like a game of find-and-cover-or-figure-out-how-to-turn-off-the-LED. I’ve got it all mastered now though.

The rain showerhead is also amazing – definitely the right choice – and our water pressure is great. Also really really digging my big deep kitchen sink. Another thing that was totally worth the upgrade. I remain deeply in love with the back porch and have spent a lot of time sitting out there on my computer working. It’s much better than a cubicle, that’s for sure. Can’t beat the view.

The only thing I don’t really have yet is living room furniture. We were waiting to decide what kind of couch to get until the house came, and then we kind of wavered back and forth about it for a while. On Friday we finally went to Haverty’s and got one, although naturally we didn’t like any of the standard fabric options and ended up getting a special order fabric, which can take up to 10 weeks to be delivered. And we didn’t want to buy a coffee table until we had decided on a couch, so we don’t have that yet either. And I don’t really watch TV, so we didn’t bother moving any of the tv stuff over yet. As of right now I have an empty living room, and it’s looking like January before it’ll be filled. I did buy a beanbag chair so I can at least sit in there for now if I want (the beanbag will eventually move to the reading nook) but that’s it. Right now I just put the dog beds in there during the day. It’s fine.

On Sunday morning I got up early to head to the grocery store, grabbing food and a few household items that I still needed. I was concerned about pantry space but I think it’ll be fine, and of course the fridge and freezer are huge so there’s plenty of room in there. Right now I’m still figuring out the best ways to live smaller, and I’m sure it’ll evolved more over time, but so far so good. I honestly really like it. The house is comfortable, I don’t feel squished in here at all. It may change once there’s more stuff and the SO and the cats… I’m sure it’ll shrink a bit then. For now though, it feels quite spacious. I don’t really NEED more room than this.

I’m still waiting on the skirting to get installed, some stuff had to be ordered and it’s taking a little longer than anticipated, but that’s the last major outstanding thing. For now anyway. I’m sure more things will surface. I’ve also not put up any artwork on the walls, and need to figure out rugs and that kind of thing. My brain needs a little bit of a break though. Maybe next week I can tackle some of that.

For now, here’s another walkthrough video now that I’m moved in and there’s actually stuff in here! We’ll see what next week brings…

I’ve got to make this another short one today, the barn owners are leaving for FL this morning so I’m going to help them load/see them off, then the internet company is coming to set up the diminutive domicile with wifi, then I have to chores, then I have to squeeze 8 hours of work in. I’ll get y’all caught up on the house stuff and the horse stuff over the next few days.

Boy what a ride this last week has been though, huh? I try not to get political here often, but I’m not going to shy away from the subject when it’s on my mind, and it’s REALLY on my mind now. I think I’ve run through the entire gamut of emotions due to politics since last Tuesday.

It’s kind of weird because the deep sense of relief is also balanced with an understanding that we as a country are more divided than we’ve ever been, and there’s so much work to be done. I’m concerned about the damage that’s already been done, and what it could lead to further down the line. For now though, god it was nice to watch that speech on Saturday night and see a leader again. Dignity, respect, compassion, calls for unity, complete sentences… I’ve missed thee. It also majorly brought a tear to my eye to see so many videos of people around the world celebrating. People dancing in the streets in cities across the US, and in the UK, and church bells ringing across Europe. I’d forgotten what that feels like, seeing so much widespread joy. It lifted a little bit of the weight of 2020 off of my soul, even if only for a brief while.

Plus, like, the memes. Y’all know I love memes. We’ve even seen a resurgence of my favorite Obama/Biden memes. It’s giving me life right now.

The results of an election don’t solve all the country’s problems, not by a long shot. It’s a long, uphill slog, made even more complicated by the events of 2020. There is still a lot of work to do, maybe more now than ever. But I hope that this can be the beginning of a reboot. Seeing record numbers of voters felt amazing, especially groups who have historically not turned out to vote (and/or not been ABLE to, for myriad reasons that we as a country seriously have to address), and to have them be the ones who ultimately changed the outcome… I hope we’ve all learned from this. Seeing the true power of the people on display was amazing. And holy shit guys, we’ve FINALLY got a woman in the White House! Is there any greater sound than that of a glass ceiling being shattered?

I also hope that we – meaning all of us, no matter who you voted for – can start finding some middle ground. If we want it to work at all, we have to work together. Not just we the people but the politicians we elected and put in office as well. We as a country have to start listening to each other again, and respecting each other again. I hope we can. But what I do at least have now is hope.

And please for the love of god, stay off of Parler.

Yeah I know I know I know, we still need Glamour Shots sessions of Ollie and Ellie. No one has forgotten. It’s just that those require a lot more time + effort + people, which is hard to coordinate. They’ll happen at some point I promise. But we do still have a fun little photo session this week anyway! In preparation for their journey to Tennessee, the babies have been introduced to the trailer. Well, the trailer isn’t a totally new concept for some of them, like Ollie who had to go to the vet for his butt abscess. It’s always preferable to give them lots of time to check it out and get used to it first before they start the formal trailer-loading training or have to go for a ride anywhere, though, so the trailer was backed into their pasture, opened up, and left (with supervision of course) to let them check it out in their own time.

Ollie, being the most experienced of the babies when it comes to the trailer, took it upon himself to introduce it to all the other babies. First he summoned everyone….

Then he explained: DIS, my frenns, is a Magic Box. You gets in dis box, and it goes ZOOMZOOMZOOM and den when it stops you is in ANOTHER WORLD. Come see!

Ollie: alright, there we go, all aboard! Let me just find the button to start this thing…

Both girls: He doesn’t really know how to work it does he?

Ollie: YES I DO! We just has to stand here and wait. Oakley: I think you’re full of… *poops*

Everyone: maybe dis Magic Box is broken.

Luckily Ollie is never one to be deterred for long.

Ollie: I didn’t wanna say dis before because I don’t wanna brag, but I’m also a mechanic! Let’s take a look under the hood here and see–

Ellie: WHAT IF WE JUST BITE IT?

Ollie: Um, yeah… totally! That’s what I was gonna say! Let’s bite it!

Ollie, whispering quietly to himself: please work Magic Box, I wuv you…

Alas, despite their best efforts, no amount of biting could make the Magic Box work. Luckily even a broken magical box, while incapable of transporting you to other worlds, is still a really fun thing to explore and hang out in. Well, for some anyway.

Ellie: everything the light touches is my kingdom!

Ollie: UM, who put dees windows SO HIGH? Dis a discrimination box!

Ellie: Oh hey, I found a hooman-in-da-box.

Ollie: Oh good! Excuse me hooman, I need to speak to a manager. Dis Magic Box is BROKEN and also it keeps telling me I’m SHORT. You call dis a chest bar? Dis a THROAT BAR! I’m NOT short, I’M FUN SIZE!!! Dis is a VERY MEAN BOX!!! One star Yelp review!

And where was Remi during all this, you may ask? Hanging out with his emotional support animal, Sadie, of course. He’s no fool.

Remi: haha, suckers! Have fun with your dumb broken box!

Maybe next time the box will be a little more magical. Happy Friday everyone!