Just Kit Sunday #72

"Watch it sucka."

Anyone remember that?

New Boots, Sort Of

J has a hard time finding boots in his size 11B, so he decided to special order a pair from the local shoe store.  Their price was better than what I could find on the internet so I said, "go for it."

 Well, he was very excite to pick them up in town today.

 There was only a slight problem.

See if  you can tell what it is better from this view.  Maybe the shoe store owner knows him better than I do and thought he really did have 2 left feet, or maybe this is why they were cheaper than what I could find.  Guess he'll have to wait a couple of more weeks for the "right" ones to come in.

What Holiday Is It

Woke up at 6:30 to a phone call from the school that there were no classes today.

Our second snow storm of the year and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet.

Unfortunately, work wasn't canceled so I still had to drive into town.  I was a little late because I did plan on 25 mph cars on a 55 mph rode.  At least I got there safe.

Hope everyone gets to where they're going safe too.

Saw a cute Facebook post this morning " 4 seasons in 2 days, only in southwest Virginia."

Awesome View

This is a view that I have really been missing since April when I first started fighting white line disease in Otoelene's right front hoof. 

 I've been so depressed with her having to stay in the barn lot for 7 months now and I'm sure she has been too.  But for the last couple of weeks, dare I say it?, she's been sound.  I've ridden her in the barn a few times and even loped twice but only for a lap, not like she doesn't tear around the lot like a crazy horse at times on her own.   And so far so good.  Her hoof still hasn't grown out completely and I'll probably post  some pictures of the progression later, but for now just enjoy the view.

 It rained yesterday and the ground was pretty wet so I just rode her in the bottom where is was nice and level and no rocks.

  Can you believe the temperature was up to 60 by 10 am.  What a gorgeous day!

Otoelene was interested in everything.  She really wanted to move the cattle around but it wasn't time to rotate them today.  So she had to make due by just walking through them and pinning her ears at a few of the calves.  

She didn't even mind checking out the pile of horse eating wood.  And on the way back to the barn instead of making a bee line back to the gate she just meandered around acting like she was postponing going back. I felt like I could have ridden her all day, but I didn't want to over due it with her.
On a different subject, V got home for Thanksgiving vacation last night and J already has her out somewhere cutting wood.  No laying around on the sofa this vacation.

Just Kit Sunday #71

Yellow on yellow. 

Something's Missing

I had been thinking about it for awhile now, but since someone in Rhode Island is interested in Wrangler and I now need to make more videos of him, I decided to go ahead and do it.

I took the 40 foot round pen down.  When I told J what I wanted to do, he said he had been thinking the same thing.  Since we don't really have to lunge our horses much anymore and they all work on a lunge line fine, we didn't have as much need for the pen.

Now, for awhile anyway, I won't have this obstacle to ride around.   Maybe it will make another appearance in the future.

Good Fences #35

When I went to feed the dogs only one showed up so I had to go looking for the other one.

She was with this small group of goats that were on the wrong side of the fence from the other 100.  A little herding got them together again.

For more good fences click HERE.

Poor Little Thing

J has been keeping a close check on a little heifer calf that hasn't really been getting enough milk.  The cow just doesn't seem to be giving much.  He tried to give her a bottle last week but she would have none of that.  With this cold snap, 11 degrees overnight and only in the 20's during the day, he decided to just take the calf off the cow and put her in the barn.  Low and behold, she decided the bottle wasn't such a bad thing after all.  

 The other problem the poor thing had was that she would nurse the cow from behind instead of from the side.  Needless to say, the back end of a cow is a messy spot to stand.  It's a little hard to tell but her neck and back are covered with dried manure.

 So this morning, with curry comb in hand, I went to go pretty her up.

 It took quite a bit of grooming but she finally came clean.

That's just got to feel better.

And this evening she was even perkier and ready for her bottle.

Horse Judging Clinic

Wouldn't you know, as soon as my girls finished with horse judging, I have a new group of kids that want to do it.  I begged people for 10 years so V and E could judge on teams instead of as individuals.  I guess the begging has finally paid off just a little too late for V and E (although E will be able to help with the coaching, YAY).

 Saturday we went to the Block and Bridle Horse Judging Clinic.  Over 230 kids from across the state showed up to learn about horse judging.  It was freezing cold but they toughed it out.  I ended up with 5 seniors and 2 juniors at the clinic.

B&B does a great job with the clinic every year.  They showed some horses in pairs and discussed the differences in hunter, western pleasure, equitation and halter.  Then they broke into small groups and talked about reasons.  After lunch they finished up by judging 4 classes like at a contest.  It was a great experience and I think I have some kids interested in judging now.  

Just Kit Sunday #70

"I am all powerful, I am a god!"

 ""Puny human!"

"You are nothing!" 

"whoops, my bad, sorry."

Good Fences #34

We had used our new pens in the spring to work the calves but this was the first time we had put the cows down the chute. 

 Everything worked great, the cows went right through just like clockwork.

Got to love new fences.
For more Good Fences, click HERE.

More Good Finds

I love going to the State Surplus Store because you just never know what you will find.  This week's finds were a little usual.  

 Christmas ornaments and a cowboy hat.

 The ornaments are the very nice Martha Stewart glass ones, a steal at 25 cents each.

And the cowboy hat is a MHT, Master Hatter of Texas straw hat for $5.00.  Now, if I don't want to wear my helmet at horse shows, I have a hat from this century that I can wear.  (I had taken my felt hat from the 80's to the Western Store to see if they could update the shape but it couldn't be done)

Final Results

E was in her last 4-H Horse Judging Contest Saturday in Louisville, KY at the Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup.  There were 21 teams from all over the country competing. 

 E's team placed 2nd in Performance, 3rd in Reasons and 3rd Overall.  She blew the Morgan classes so no individual placings at this contest.  Her highest was 24th in Halter. The big ribbons are from Arabian Nationals 2 weeks ago, the smaller ones from Eastern Nationals.

 This was the belt buckle she got for High Team at Arabian Nationals,

and this was the horse blanked she won.  Now I just need to talk her into doing Collegiate Horse Judging.  She says no right now but I've got a couple of years to work on her.

Good Help

We were very lucky to have V come home to visit this weekend.  Of course we put her right to work.

 It was time to work the fall calving group.

 The cows got dewormed, vaccinated and ear tagged.  We had not been ear tagging the cows but we are buying some adjoining land that J is worried about the line fences on.  So he's tagging them just in case.

 V had gotten a new flag stick that we tried out.  I really liked it, especially on the cows.  The flapping of the "flag" part really got them moving, so not as much tapping with the stick.

 The calves also got tagged, vaccinated,

 and the bull calves got castrated.  V was a big help here.  I didn't have to hold any tails.  And look at that good attitude she brought.

 The new pens have really been working out well.

All done and headed back to mama.

Just Kit Sunday #69

Kit is sharing his day with a special friend.

 I guess Kit has a soft spot for special occasions like birthdays. 

A man and his cat, Kit Kat that is.

Happy Birthday J. 

Good Fences #33

Is there such a thing as "November Fool's Day"?

 That's all that I could think when we woke up to 4 inches of snow Saturday morning.

 Luckily, it didn't stick around long.  It was mostly gone by the next day except for a pile left by E's snowman.

 Apparently, the storm was more isolated than I thought.  An area north of us that always gets more snow only had an inch that later disappeared with the rain and sleet that followed.

At least our precipitation all came as a very picturesque white snow instead of slush.  
For more Good Fences click HERE.

Nature's Recycling

After draining the honey there is still a little bit left in the wax. 

I set this out by the hive and the bees went right to work getting the honey and usable wax back out.  There wasn't much left when they were done.  Such incredible little creatures.  We ended up with a little over 2 gallons of honey from one super.

Way Too Early

I don't ever remember a snow this early with so many leaves still on the trees.  

 Fall just got here and now it's winter.

 We had 3-4 inches when we got up this morning.

 Enough for E to go out and make a snowman.

 I don't think any leaves have fallen off of the oak tree in the yard.

 E had to do a little pruning for some arms.

Isn't he handsome.   But I hope he leaves soon.