Where did this week go?

I had big plans this week.... but all for naught! I was going to haul Kai to the bigger round pen, but the road between here and there was being paved which was a PITA for waiting and driving on oil so that didn't happen. I did get on him, bareback in the round pen and he pretty much refused to do anything. Quite happy to just stand there, walk a left circle but nada to the right, didn't even want to flex his neck to the right- I had to grab right onto the halter to get him to bring his nose around. He was all "uh-uh, I don't wanna and you can't make me". If I asked him to walk forward, he backed, or stopped and put his nose on the ground. So I've pretty much decided I am not going to work him again until he has his body work done- then there will be no excuses and he'll just have to get over his attitude. He seems to be really adept at finding ways of getting out of work, so once I have him at his best physically, he is going to have to work his brown butt off. Cowboy up, Kai!
Today I have a really painful lower back, my Back on Track back brace didn't do much so I did what always helps to loosen up my back- I rode Beamer. Me and Tess and Amber did the circuit of the hay fields- and it didn't take long to rule out trotting. Which sucks, because that's my favourite. And at one point, Beamer got a little bratty and wanted to turn back for home but I got that sorted and we had a nice late afternoon amble.

The last time I had him out was September the 8th, when I took my border collie Reba for her last trail ride. It was her 13th birthday, and she is really slowing down. She has a tumour on one of her nipples, which I have been treating with Young Living's Frankincense and Clove oils, and it is about half the size now. Also, Beamer had been shedding his frog, if you recall from my posts on that, where I had to cut it away to keep dirt from getting trapped under it. It is completely gone now, and the new growth is starting.

  That foot still has a long way to go to be truly healthy but it has made major improvements over the last 2 years.
Anyway, I figured it was time to bring him out for some exercise. It was a bit cool, we had our first heavy frost last night but this morning the sunrise was fabulous.

Tomorrow, I am clerking an auction of antiques, want to bet that I come home with something?
And- Shayla will be travelling back from California tomorrow, so I hope to get a visit in with her on Monday - it'll probably take a week to hear all the stories!  Happy that I'll have my riding buddy back and hope she can help me with Kai. Another thing- the Bruce Koch clinic that I was going to had to be cancelled- Bruce got in a wreck with a horse he is training, got a rope wrapped around his leg and got dragged, so no clinics for a bit. He'll be allright, a separated shoulder and probably cracked ribs.
Goes to show that even the pros can get careless and make mistakes. Glad it wasn't any worse! That must have been a nightmare for him.
Well, you all have a wonderful weekend! Here's a parting shot from the Beamer ear cam!

Beating the 'skeeters

Every evening the mosquitoes come out and the horses start trying to outrun them. Sometimes if it's really hot out, Gussie gets sweated up from running, so I have started bringing them in from pasture earlier; the 'skeeters tend to hang out in the grass, and their pen is a dry lot. Even so, near dusk, the hoards find them, and off they go, around the pen. Beamer, poor boy, is by himself so he doesn't have the benefit of another horse to swish tails with. So, last night I built them a smudge. I took some of the hay that Beamer has wasted, some dry and some wet, and put it near the middle of his pen and lit it up. At first, Beamer gave it the hairy eyeball, so I haltered him and made him stand in the smoke for a minute.

The smoke drifted over to the mare pen, as the airflow was just perfect, and I couldn't believe how quickly they went and stood in the smoke; Gussie first, then Chickory, and then mama and baby. (Coyote Belle is the suspicious type). I took the halter off and Beamer stood there.

It must have been a relief ! No little biting monsters !

New perfume for horses, Eau de Smoke!

Enough smoke filled the air that by the time it burned out the 'skeeters had buggered off (pun intended!)

Ted is going to cut a steel barrel in half for me, and I'll put the smudge in them, one in the mare pen and one for Beamer. Sure beats the cost of bug spray!