NOVEMBER 2009
ALL TIED UP FOR THE HOLIDAY

First let me start by telling you I just LOVE Walsh halters. Recently purchased a new Walsh turn out halter for Doc. Got the one with all the adjustments, ie: headstall, cheek and chin. The price is a little more; but well worth it. They look great, fit well, and wear like iron.

Now the story:

Earlier this week Trina was following her usual ritual of taking the horses out to pasture. She owns Dazzle (Thoroughbred) and has been coming along nicely with his training. That horse has the most beautiful collected canter.

Anyhow.... Trina arrived at the paddocks at her usualy a.m. time to find Doc waiting patiently at the gate for her to come get him. He and Daz march out together on either side of Trina. Stable mates, they are buddies and both know their manners. Trina has been around horses all her life and does not tolerate any nonscense. Going out to pasture each morning is something the boys look forward to so much so that this particular morn Mr. Doccie could not control himself. There he stood patiently waiting at the gait as Trina haltered up Daz. The suspense was just to much for him to bare....waiting, waiting, waiting. By the time Trina arrived with Daz in hand to get Doc the excitement had esculated to: "WHOO HOOOOOO! " With that Doc gave his exhuberant squeal of delight, jumped straight up in the air and came down bucking. Off he ran round his paddock just so happy to be alive. Trina on the other hand was not whoo hoooing. She called to Doc to no avail. His "happy to be alive" antics had taken over and no way was he ready to come to the gate.

So......Trina left Doc's new Walsh red turnout halter on the fence post of his paddock and proceeded to walk Daz out alone. She figured by the time she walked back, Doc would have figured out he missed the boat and be waiting. She was not about to go chase happy horse around his paddock. And...... she was right abut the "waiting" part..............
The walk to the paddock is about two blocks away and around the corner. Once you have reached a certain point you cannot see the paddock area. Unbeknownst to Trina "someone" was working on getting into trouble back at the paddock.

That halter hanging on the fence post. " Hmmmmm.....whats that there for? Let me take a better look see. Hmmmm......no one EVER leaves anything on MY fence." (wonder why)
Doccie proceeded to lip that halter and pull it up off the post. As he pulled it, the lead which was attached to it; wedged itself between the gate and the fence, jamming the knot at the end of the lead. Doccie tried to leave with his prize to find he was attached to the halter that was attached to the lead that was attached to the fence. At which point he dropped the halter. (or so we think). Beautiful red new Walsh halter now on ground with horsey pawing at it. :(

Yes...there's more. Now mind you Trina is only gone five minutes and now on the way back to get Doc. When she arrived back at his paddock she was shocked to find horsey all tied up! He had apparently pawed and pulled at the halter in an attempt to run off with it and got his front foot stuck. Once stuck he must have tried to unstuck himself and got his SECOND front foot stuck. Now he must have turned and WRAPPED the remainder of the halter around his legs. He was hobbled together with his feet wrapped tightly in halter and attached to the fence. :@ Trina remained calm and feared horsey would freak and break a leg or at the very least pull a tendon. How in HELL did he do that? Her first instinct was to open the fence and release the lead. No go. It was wedged so tight that the chains that secure the gate could not be opened. Then she thought to cut the lead. Needed a knife. She was concerned about leaving horsey standing stuck alone for the time it would take to get a knife. Time was of the essense. Trina decided to climib under the fence and proceeded to unbuckle all those Walsh buckles on that halter. One by one she started to release and unwrap the halter from Doc's legs. He stood quietly watching, not moving an inch. He knew. Trina was there to help him.

When I arrived at the stalble later in the day, Trina was there to greet me with: "Your horse amazed me." She proceeded to tell me the above story and how calm Doc remained. Thankfully no one was hurt.

Trina had a "Meet the Morgan" experience

September 2009
Fence Repair 101

We arrived at the stable yesterday to find a board falling off the
fence in Doc's paddock. Said board was 16 feet long and SPLIT in
half.

Now I wonder how that happened. It was the middle board. No one but the
resident who lives there knows what happened and he ain't talking.
Hmmm......???

However, Joe and I have noticed the "resident" (on numerous occasions)
KNEELING on the ground (butt in the air) STICKING HIS HEAD through the
fence in an attempt to suck up a blade of grass. on the other side.

So Joe scavenged around to find another board to repair the fence while
I toiled at manure pick up. I noted hubby's truck circle around the
paddock and hubby dragging said replacement board over to the damaged
fence. Someone else was watching too.

My poop pick-up detail was interrupted by grunting, sighing and
yelling, ie: "Will you stop it! Let go; damn it! Give that back!
Will you get outta here! LEAVE MY HAT ALONE!"
BARBARAAAAAAAA!

Seems that "the resident" wanted to help. Joe lifted one side of the
board and sort of rested it on top of the bottom board trying to balance
it while he put a nail in the other end. As soon as he headed to the
other end "his helper" picked up the "resting end" and dropped it on the
ground. This went on back and forth for a few minutes. Thus the "damn
it" part. lol

Joe put his hammer down and started the procedure again only to find the
hammer missing. ???? After extracting the hammer from horsey's mouth,
Joe was finally able to attempt to hammer a nail into the board.
Horsey insisted on inspecting EXACTLY where the nail was going by
placing his nose one inch away from the nail head. Joe had to stop
hammering for fear of nailing horse's nose. Thus the "WILL YOU GET
OUTTA HERE."

By that time hubby was yelling for me to come help. Big help I was.
Could not stop laughing. As Joe hammered horsey had that huge top lip
of his going thump, thump, thump on Joe's head trying to snatch his hat.
Which in turn produced the "Leave my hat alone!" As Joe grabbed his
hat, Doc took the hammer. The board fell.

OH MY GOD......I'm gonna pee here from laughing.

August 2009
The Fly Tarp

Well Gram.....

Mom screwed up again. She measured me for a new fly sheet (THREE TIMES)
and called the company to ask their advise. Since I measured 75" Mom
ordered 76"...... Holy Cow.

The "fly tarp" arrived yesterday. Mom came to the barn all excited
(like the new outfit was for her). Ho hum here. Do I care about a new
fly sheet? Think not. Although a good sniff was in order, the rest was
BORING.

So....Mom opened the HUGE sheet and flung it on my back. (I'm such a
brave soul. You would not BELIEVE the things they do to me and I stand
there like an ass.) It landed squarely and ALMOST REACHED THE GROUND!
Yikes. I will have to eat double rations of oats to fill out the butt,
and get hoof lifts . The leg straps were too long even though there
were adjusted to their smallest length. The overall length and
shoulders seemed fine....but the rest was just too big. I looked like I
was wearing my father's suit with pants falling down to my knees. The
other horses were watching as I stood there looking stupid. How
embarrassing.

Yeah, well....I'm NOT wearing that thing! I don't like the color
either. Snort!

Love

Doccie

August 2009
Yesterday....WHICH GATE IS WHICH

Took Doc down to a back paddock which has sparse grass and pretty flat.
Had a good practice and a pleasant little trail ride around the paths
that surround the paddocks. When we arrived back at our paddock I rode
Doc into his paddock through the big main paddock gate which we had left
open when we left. Don't usually use that gate, but the "little" gate
had mud and water to slush through. Also the "little" gate is narrow
and I am worried the saddle will get scraped if horsey is over to one
side too much. So we used the "huge" gate.

Back at the barn; Joe was off filling water or some such chore. I
removed Doc's tack and took him out the "little" gate to hose him off.
Used the hose and then soaked him down with a bucket of liniment. Love
the smell. (Horsey had rolled in something dead and the mint smell was
wonderful.) So...fussed and groomed till Joe took over, stealing Doc
for a walk and some grass. Horsey STILL shedding....or could this is a
new shed already in anticipation of his winter coat? Been working on
getting that "show" shine and mission accomplished! Found that using a
"slicker' block does the trick.

Anyhow.. after about a half hour horsey was dry and Joe returned him
back to his paddock using the "little" gate. We then got involved with
Trina trying our Wintec saddle on Daz. She is in the market for an
english saddle and wanted to try the Wintec. Doc watched (nosey) at the
fence as we changed the gullet to the proper side for Daz and Trina
mounted up. The Wintec had the largest sized gullet from Doc and we now
needed to down size to almost the smallest for Daz. Huge 16+ hand Daz
and in a small size for his lanky self.

We adjusted, refitted and Trina rode; Doc observed from the sidelines
going in and out of his barn from time to time for some hay. (I think
he was jealous).

Finally we finished our saddle fitting hour and packed up to go home.
We had arrived at the stable at 9 and it was 2 already. Horses watered
and hayed....all paddock doors secured. Doccie's barn door latch (two
of them) in place. Always checking here. In the truck we went and
homeward bound. As we proceeded up route 9 a dim light went off in my
head. "Joe, did you shut that "huge" gate to Doccie's paddock?"
Answer: "No."
!!! :@ :

Turned around..SPED back. Horsey gate OPEN. WIDE OPEN! Where is my
horsey???? (where is my brain?)

Here he comes...hay hanging form his mouth. Coming over to see why we
came back with an expression that said: "Hey Guys! Did you come back
to shut my gate.....Duh?"

Can't believe we are soooo careful and left the gate open. Good thing
we realized before too much time lapsed. Doc had to know that gate was
open. Think he was amused at how dumb we both were.

This getting old thing is not fun.

Us.... :D