little update

Just a quick little update. . .

We got our power back on before the expected day! Yay! I feel bad for Terry as her power is still off because less than a week after the tornado, she had a flood. And once her power gets back on, she still won't have cable and internet because the main part somewhere on her island as fried. So in light of the the things we have been missing since the storm, I present to you Maslow's new hierarchy of needs:

It was no easy task to keep the phone battery charged! And since the phone doubles as my alarm clock, it was super important!

The last county fair was today. Beth didn't take her ponies because they got four inches of rain and there was no way to prepare the horses. So we went to watch and I took a grand total of zero photos. It was a small show and the sky was overcast. But Haley and her Haflingers, Denny and Vella took a bunch of firsts and Becky and her Haflingers, Freckles and Jasi placed, too. It was a fun and relaxing time. Just what I needed after the last couple very stressful weeks at work.

After the show, I went back to Beth's and gave some attention to her ponies. They are so silly! Art was on one end of the paddock flapping his lips against his tongue, Rambo was by the fence sucking on his tongue, and Leah was performing acrobatics trying to get a blade of grass from under the fencing. 

She can really get down!

Shyloh has been completely neglected this week. Luckily, I also have tomorrow off of work, so I plan on spending a lot of time with her. I am sure she will be overjoyed. I am hoping to be preparing for our last show for the season, but I am not sure if we have a trailer to borrow or not. If not, I have been putting a lot of thought into getting her harness back out. I kind of want to have fun when the snow comes, like we did two winters ago at that barn. We shall see. . .

This was so much fun!

And, how covered in burrs do you think Shy will be? I haven't been out since Sunday. . .

why weather?

What a weekend. It started out with a tornado and massive loss of power. Luckily, my house has no damage and there is no damage to the barn or any horses. My power is not scheduled for service to be restored until Wednesday at 11:30 pm. PM!! I have been charging my phone in the car and walking around the house at night with a candle. Currently, I am borrowing power from a friend's business to internet. Terry had a tree fall on the back of her house during the winds and storms. . In all this mess, I did manage to make it out to the barn for some chill time and just to double check on the  horses. 

Oh hi there. We are all fine! I got this!

Shyloh is doing fabulous back in her giant pasture. She has managed to find all the burrs, once again. I was told by another boarder that Shy doesn't take the path back to the large opening, she prefers to go through the brush and woods. Of course. . .

Big burrs in the tail. . .

Tiny burrs in the forelock. . .and on the feather, and the belly, and the legs, and the chin. . .

Reba continues to follow Shy and gets upset when I take her away. Poor Reba is getting into scuffles with the other horses and is all beat up. The other ones have marks, too, so Reba is retaliating. Shy. . .well, Shy is mark free. 

Eating together

I've been taking Shy for little walks around the property again. This week, I've been by myself when I've been there, so I won't get on her. And when I kidnapped Terry to bring her away from her fallen tree mess, we just loved on the horses. 

Walking and grazing. And practicing a little bit of sidepassing and backing up while we are out and about.

Mustache tail says hi

Me and Shy did take Terry and Reba through the woods and Reba was not a fan. She kept trying to pull Terry back. And Shy was not understanding, there is food in the woods! Endless food! Shy even grabbed a branch of leaves and took it with her for the walk. 

Woodland pony

When we got back, I just hopped on Shy and laid on her with my eyes closed while she napped. We totally interrupted her nap time and she was not afraid to let me know that.

Golden

While I didn't have quite the weekend I was planning on, I still got to get my pony time in. I think Shy is happy with our new arrangement. And from just one week, her hooves look even better than before. I think it is from the varied footing in the pasture plus more movement and grazing opportunity. 

More grazing

Sunsets

Hopefully the power gets restored soon for us!

fulton county fair 2014

I spent Wednesday at the Fulton County Fair in Ohio. Gotta love fair days during the week, that means a day off of work! I went with Beth and did my best to help her out. She was showing Art and Leah, who hadn't been out in a while.

I also got to help one of the Haflinger hitches, Brugger's Other Farm, with their six horse hitch. Maybe, I took more photos than actually helping, but I did hold a horse or two. I also helped un-harness after they won the class and spent some cuddle time with one of their geldings, Woody. He was so sweet. 

Enjoy the photos!

Beth's ponies at the trailer. Leah, then Rambo, and Art in the back. 

Gotta love Art!

Belgian lady's cart

Becky and Jasi

Leah and Art, waiting to go into Team Farm Obstacle

Just finishing cones

Brugger's Other Farm, team Haflinger hitch

Going into team farm class

Heritage Hills Belgian Team Hitch

Right after the 4 hitch, getting ready to add more Haflingers

Gotta attach another pole

Horse #5

And horse #6

Holding all the lines and keeping them straight

Heading into the class! All six ready to go!

After the win!

All lined up and ready to rest

Leah

Art

One of my new favorites, Woody. He is one of the lead horses from the hitch.

One more county fair this year!

follow the leader

This makes everything all worth it. . .

Lily got Shy from the pasture and walked her out. 

Lily groomed Shy, Shy napped.

Lily getting ready to get on Shy.

Riding!

Lily on Shy, her mom on Reba. They played follow the leader and Shy was perfect. Then Lily asked for a turn to lead and Shy just had to test her. Props to Lily for working Shy out of that corner all on her own! You can see the exact moment in the video when Shy conceded and decides that Lily wins. 

Then, Lily asked to trot Shy. Off the lead line. And this happened. . .

Doesn't that just make your heart smile? Shy could not have been better! With a little more work, Lily will be able to keep Shy at a trot. Our next step is getting a saddle that fits Lily so she can actually use the stirrups. 

I think next weekend's show will be Lily's last as a lead liner. Walk/Trot, here we come!

chicken update

Since day one, we were aware that Jaime did not want roosters on her farm. Roosters don't just crow in the morning, they crow all day and all night. So when Foghorn began developing a comb and waddles, it was time for Terry to take him home. I said that Whitney Houston could come along to keep him company. Terry lost track of which chicken was Roy Orbison, so she took a smaller chicken along, too. 

First order of business was building a coop in Terry's yard. Terry lives on an island, which sounds weird, but it is its own township. It also has lots of wildlife there and is subject to different rules than where I live. 

The original. Later, Terry added a chicken wire cover, right over the top because they kept flying out.

Terry scored some free pallets from Tractor Supply and bought some fencing and other chicken supplies. We ended up making a ghetto fabulous coop. But at least it contained the chickens and kept them safe from her dogs and other wildlife on the island. 

I made up this for fun one day

Since Foghorn was a rooster and Whitney lays brown eggs, we assumed that the white eggs that kept showing up were from Roy. Jaime asked for Roy back because she seemed to be the only hen laying eggs. Strangely enough, after Roy was returned, we still kept getting white eggs. And there was no way Whitney was laying them. After some research, turns out Leghorn hens develop large combs and waddles. Interesting. . .Further research showed that Leghorns lay eggs early and Barred Rocks take longer to start laying. So, Foghorn is a hen. 

Free ranging for earthworms

This coop worked for the time being, but I had better plans. I also had a rabbit hutch my dad made me that was no longer in use. We took the Labor Day Monday to modify and biggify the coop. The rabbit hutch is great because it had two drop down doors so we can collect eggs. Then we built a ramp and used an ond sled to put sand in so they could "bathe". We added some supports to make the roof higher and put in some branches for roosting. 

They immediately took the the roosting branches

Yoshi keeping watch over the finished coop. 

The hens loved it! They checked it all out. I showed them how to go up the ramp to the nesting boxes. I think they will be some happy hens. We repurposed most of the fencing and all the wood was free. It is not the prettiest coop I have ever seen, but the hens are safe and happy. And I am hoping Whitney starts laying soon! 

Gorgeous Whitney!

Shyloh update soon, I am having trouble getting some video edited.