March 2009

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England - March was mostly taken up by a flying visit to England for Granny's funeral (photos to follow), lots of sleeping trying to get back to normal again (I've never felt that wiped out and weird after a trip before), watching the rain come down and wash a great deal of our driveway gravel out into the street, and the yearly online spectating of the Iditarod sled dog race.

Tuesday 24 March - I rode! I rode!

First time in six weeks!!!

Roop and I went down the lane and I only had to get off once - just as well as seconds later he was jumping up and down so much he slipped in the mud and fell over. <roll eyes> stupid idiot.

My ankle aches, but we ended on a good note and managed 4 miles at a good walk (esp. on the way home). Tevis here we come

[<Ann> ] See this is why I don't ride with you. You can't control your horse! ;)

I had perfect control of him. He started jumping up and down. We did five tight circles and he continued to jump up and down so I got off. He tried to run me over. I threatened him with death. He whirled away and fell over. I rolled my eyes and he got up and we hand-walked on up the road. <mutter> stupid idiot </mutter>

Tevis here we come

Leslie:
> Yay!!! It's a good start anyway :) Did Roop really fall over??? lol!

<sigh> sadly, yes

I knew things would be bad as all the horses were high as pancakes and last week when I was fitting boots he was leaping about like an idiot - like a kite on a string. 

The main trouble with not riding for so long is you start to build thoughts in your head that shouldn't be there and I found I'd gotten quite anxious about riding, so had to really talk myself into it.

Mind you, by the time he started acting stupid, I'd settled down nicely.

'course after he fell down, he didn't want to go and I had to keep dragging him. And each time he'd stop, he'd rest the same back leg, causing me to assume that he'd managed to break himself for the entire season in the first two miles.

Predictably, on the way back, he was miraculously cured and quite able to walk at 4+ mph - until we got to the part with the enormous puddle that Chili lay and splished in. Every time she splished, Roo would squat and threaten to leap out from underneath me and I debated getting off again, but managed to get him moving in a non-idiot fashion and off we went again. We did see some Killer Cows and one Killer Frog.

And I had a tick in my hair when I came indoors.

Riding again late Friday afternoon, possibly at Cronin.

Washing Machine

Our washing machine has been leaking oil for about a year now. Slightly annoying, but you just had to avoid stepping in the puddle with a bare toe, or dropping the clean clothes in it. Finally, the washing machine itself began to no longer wash clothes. They'd go in, they'd come out, there'd still be dirt. 

We decided it was time to retire the old machine (a mere 17+ years old) in favour of a new one, so off to Home Depot in Sacramento we went, only to be told our zip code wasn't in the system so they couldn't sell us a machine.

Off we traipsed to Home Depot in Auburn... only to be told our zip code still didn't exist, so we'd have to pick the new machine up at the store when it was delivered one week hence. 

New Washing Machine Arrival Day came and pft presented himself at the store to be told the machine wasn't there. After waiting for 45 minutes for them not to find it, he left, only to have them phone me 45 minutes after that to say they'd found it. He went back, they presented him with said 200 lb machine and asked "will you need help with that?". 45 minutes later, someone actually came to help him load the humungous box into the back of the Subaru. 

Needless to say, he was a little irritable when he got home.

But the new machine is jolly spiffy. It washes clothes, you know. And makes them clean. Novel concept.

It's one of them "new fangled" front loaders... curious to me, since before coming to the US, I'd never seen a top-loader. The best thing about it is the capacious drum is large enough to fit horse blankies inside. The second best thing about it is the cheerful tune it plays when it is done. 

Of course, it's also marvelously clever and has many buttons and knobs with mysterious labels... none of which we know how to use. And of course it has to use special "High Efficiency" liquid. Which, of course, we didn't have.

And what did we do? What any self-respecting new washing machine owner would do - we put a tiny amount of normal washing liquid in with our first load and slammed the door. And predictably, once it was washing, we had to add the errant sock that had been left behind and had to go in too. Only when you open the door under those circumstances, suds pour out. 

Quite exciting it was, for a moment. 

So quite pleased, are we, over our new purchase. 

The old machine is now squatting on the back deck, pending its drum being turned into a desert camping brazier...

Thursday 26th - Tiny Rooster's Poorly Leg

	Poor Tiny Rooster has hurt his leg. Not sure what he did, but it's very sore indeed. It is swollen and he has some cuts on his big toe - I'm guessing he caught it in something and twisted it. Can't tell if the leg is broken, but he's eating and drinking well, so not in shock. We soaked the offended limb in white wine, per instructions from Vivian-at- work who deals with injured raptors and he is currently confined to hospital, so that he can hop around quietly. He's such a good boy, he'll let me flip him onto his back so I can inspect his leg. I was a bit alarmed Friday when the leg had turned green, but apparently that's normal bruising colour for a bird.

Friday 27th - Hay

Didn't get to ride afterall, since I had to go and get hay and when I got there there was only one hay-loader and five customers, so it took a while... esp. after he ran the squeeze into the fender on the trailer and we had to bend it back with the forklift <sigh>.

Came home with:

• 10 x grass/alf (70/30) @ $16 (this special hay for the "real workers")
• 12 x 4-way (rye, wheat, oat, barley) @ $11.50 (this not-so special hay for the non-workers)
• 24 teff @$14.50 (this for all)

for a total of 46 bales.

Saturday 28th - Drip Strip and Gloves

Roop got to try out his new Glove-boots today. 

Having borrowed Leslie's fit kit the other day, I had ascertained that he'd wear 0.5s on the front and 0s on the back (Uno will wear 1.5s on the backs, but I didn't order him any boots yet.)

Luckily, his new bootses came on Friday, so it worked out perfectly. pft and I went to Cronin late in the afternoon after wriggling the hay trailer into place and unloading the hay like the good chore-people we are <snort>. The place was deserted which was good, since Chili was with us. 

Roo got rasped a couple of weeks ago, but I think I was a bit cautious and didn't take as much hoof off as needed. As a result, his toes were a little long and his back feet didn't seat properly in the boots. Plus I didn't tighten the gaiters on the backs as much as I should have. 

He seemed fine in them for most of the ride (barring a bit of tripping, which he tends to do anyway when he's not paying attention), but on the last steep hill, he managed to twist the back boots - one came off his foot completely but stayed velcro-ed around his pastern, the other was still on, but twisted so far he was stepping on the edge of it. He jumped a little in the back when it happened, so I knew the boots weren't quite right even though it was too dark to see properly. Hopped off, got them back on again and off we went - not a big deal (the pones were glad of the rest, since they were puffing pretty good at that point). The front ones seemed to stay on fine with no problems. 

I didn't make any modifications to the boots at all - such as duct-taping the screw in the back. Roo has fairly upright feet and a good groove between his heel bulbs, so it doesn't seem to be a problem - I inspected his feet very carefully afterwards and will continue to do so as we ride further/faster (this was a slow ride - first time out since Death Valley for Fergus).

Sunday 29th - Rasping, Booting, Riding.

Roo got a quick rasp this morning while he was eating his breakfast. 

I got a bunch of hay in my hair and down the back of my neck.

Later this afternoon, we went and did the China Wall/Dead Truck loop, the idea being that we could replicate Roo's Big Hill incident and see if shorter toes/tighter gaiters solved the problem. Alas not, as we discovered about half way up the hill. There were boots flying everywhere, including one whizzing past poor Leslie's ear (Leslie was in the back, on Boot Spotting Patrol).

Being on the ground behind Roo meant that I got a good view of what's going on - it seems that when he digs his toe in for a mega-push up the steep hill, he's firing his feet out of the back of the boots and twisting them. The gaiters are too baggy and stretchy in the back. Hmm.

So the next possibilties are:

1. Try Epics in back. These have the heel strap, so he can't fire his feet out the back of them. 
   Unfortunately, I only have one 00, which is the size he'd wear, apparently, in Epics.
2. Try Renegades in back. Friend Ashley is kindly going to send me an old pair to try out. Yay.
3. See if I can get smaller gaiters to fit on these Gloves.

Regrettably, as we were leaving home, Roo had a trailer-scrambling incident as we were going down the steepest part of the driveway. In his thrashing, he managed to rip the rubber off the bottom of the stud-divider, exposing the screws holding it in place and nicked his coronet band and gouged a big chunk of hoof out of a back foot. Apparently, if you gouge deep enough, the hoof will bleed <wince>.

This meant that I had to keep boots on him for the ride and couldn't just abandon the back boots for now. Luckily, there was only the one very steep hill, so I only had to get off three times. Poor Roop. He took it all in good cheer, though.

Fergus, as usual, was a star on the ride. His three months off has done him good and he's plumped up nicely and filled out and is no longer gangly-looking. pft was suffering a little from two days in a row after no riding, but apart from ramming his knee into a tree, I'm sure he'll be back in the groove in no time. Fergus is golden shiny and almost shed out and as a result hardly sweats at all. Unlike Roo, who looked like he'd gone though a car wash.

Monday 30th - Teef Splint

So, as I mentioned the other day, I have been suffering from lock-jaw on the right hand side (when I yawn: it locks, I yelp). My dentist referred me to a TMJ specialist and he has set me up with a "splint" - sort of tooth guard thing that forces your jaw to clench in a slightly different place, unloading the joint and reprogramming your muscle-memory "don't clench, stop grinding". In theory.

My new splint came with the following instructions:

1. Wear your splint as much as possible, nighttime wear while sleeping is mandatory.
2. You can take it out to eat, brush well before replacing.
3. Be careful with your splint: periodically soak it in mouthwash.
4. Please keep it away from the dog!

The last instruction made me laugh. Wise words indeed, when you consider that Chili has recently attempted to consume my bottle of Prozac (luckily, she didn't manage to chew her way in); a bottle of antacids (luckily there weren't any left to speak of); and eaten a pair of brand new, still wrapped in packaging, leather shoelaces (all that was left when I came home was a small, sodden, corner of cardboard).

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Tuesday 31st

Leslie and I rode from Cool down to No-Hands Bridge for a quick week-day evening ride. Roo decided that Brandi was best in front. Brandi wasn't convinced. Our forward-progress was not speedy. 

At the end of the ride, I discovered that his left-front gaiter had worn a hole in his pastern and caused him to bleed. Poor Roo. Neoprene socks definitely needed, so I ordered a set from Todd-the-Sock-Maker. 

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> Chili will eat anything...remember Dennis' hoof knives???

This is a good point (now the proud owner of some hoof knives... only slightly chewed )

pft also mentioned that she'd carried off a pair of tin-snips that he was trying to use in the garage. He looked around and they'd vanished and he couldn't figure out where they'd gone.

Chili's doing great, though.

• Saturday she did 6-7 miles with pft and I (mostly walking)
• Sunday she did 6-7 miles with pft, Leslie and I (some trotting)
• Today she did 7 miles with Leslie and I (more trotting).

And she's not noticeably stiff - she's 9 years old this November, which is getting on a bit for an 80 lb dog.

Hey - maybe this gradual loading regime works?

That said, she didn't leap out of bed this morning when the coyote came visiting and I had to run nekkid out on the back deck to scare it away. Once again, there were chooks everywhere - in the trees, in the rafters of the barn, on the roof...

Result: Chooks -1; Coyote - 0.

Flying chickens is good.

(we did lose a hen the other day, though. Not sure what to. Chili found the body :(     )

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