J has really likes his Muck boots and had been wanting to get me a pair. I think he just wants me to work more so he thinks I need more work clothes. Anyway, I said I would wear some if they were pink.
Well, looky what J found, pink Muck boots.
Yesterday was the perfect day to wear them for the first time.
Not only was it damp and cold, I also had to walk a good ways down the road in them as we brought the cattle on the rented farm back to the house.
My first review is great, my feet stayed not cold (J said I would be hot but I am just stating that "not cold" is not the same as hot) and there were no spots that rubbed my ankles anywhere. So A+ for a pink Christmas.
As some of you may recall, I had the idea earlier this year to try to teach Otoelene to paint.
Although she is a calm and easy going horse, she never really took to the project. I couldn't really get past the part of getting her to hold the paint brush in her mouth long enough to do anything with it. Then it struck me that Wrangler may be the better painting prospect.
He has been for sale for several months now with no real interest yet. His one bad habit is chewing on the lead rope. He is very mouthy, always trying to bite something or pick it up in his mouth. What better habit to start with than that. I was just getting ready to turn him out after riding him the day it dawned on me to try him at this project. I gave him the paint brush and he wouldn't give it back. The next lesson I tacked a piece of paper to a bulletin board, loaded the paint brush up with blue paint and showed him the paper.
He took several swipes at the paper until the paint brush broke. I had a seconded one in the tack room and ran to get it. Wrangler had pulled the paper off the board and had it in his mouth by the time I got back, thus the hole. I made the circle to the left to get him started but all the rest is Wrangler.
I got a fresh sheet of paper and this is what he did before he got bored. He had a couple of days off at Christmas and today I gave it another try. I think he likes the brush with just some padding instead of the one I taped to a stick. I'm still trying to work out the kinks. I've also added tape around the edges of the paper instead of tacks. I had to get a magnet to find them in the sand after Wrangler pulled the paper off the first time.
Here's a clip of the start of his second lesson. So far I have just been giving him praise and no treats. Most of the videos that I have watched of other painting horses have the owners giving treats. I might have to resort to that but so far I think he is doing good just to be interested in the paper.
Here is his third painting. He managed to get a bite out of it while I was standing there. (That could be his signature) With progress like this I might need to buy some good paints and canvas next.
and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
The farrier came out again yesterday to work on Otoelene's hoof. It's looking much better and she has been sound for a month now. Here's the progression of the white line disease since April when it all started.
It still has a ways to grow out and it needs some more reshaping but I have hope again. And I think I'll be able to turn her out with the other horses again in a couple of days.
We're going to another party tomorrow that is having a more up scale secrete Santa.
I think just the women are drawing numbers and getting that gift.
I had the woman that I got the chocolate sleds from last year put together a very nice basket with chocolates, wine and etched glass. I wouldn't mind drawing my own number. I still haven't decided whether or not to add my horse hair bracelet.
And this is a new craft I did this year. Super easy folded stars from recycled magazines.
I've been looking at a facebook page of someone that does horse hair jewelry. (Pertra's Horse Hair Jewelry) What she does is beautiful and reasonably priced. So, of course I couldn't do anything the easy way and just send her the hair. I had to try to do it myself.
I already had the horse hair. When Lady died I confess, I did cut off her tail and save it. She had a very unique white tail with a black stripe.
Then I bought some of these, jewelry ends.
It took some experimenting but I finally decided I liked 4 strands braided together.
I raided V and E's craft kits and found this wire and beads that I braided in.
And this is the final product.
Not too bad for a first effort. E says I need to use better beads next time and I think I need to find some finer wire. I just hope the glue holds. Anyone interested?
J fought hard for his pick at the saddle club Christmas party. It was stolen from him repeatedly but he was steadfast in going after it and finally ended up with it.
He got an actually useful item, this very nice heavy duty rope halter. I made the mistake of not being as aggressive about getting a known item and gave up to open something new which ended up being 2 kids games which I was stuck with to the end. I see some regifting in my future. Anyway, the halter looks very smart on Brother.
J hadn't ridden Brother in a couple of weeks or more so we went for a spin this weekend with me on Otoelene.
I'm so use to Brother doing good that when he gets a little looky I have to just remind myself that he is only 3 after all.
J stuck with him well
and by the time we went back to the barn he was acting pretty good. I'm thinking he might be my endurance prospect for next year. We'll see.
J spends a lot of his time in the winter cutting and hauling in wood for which I am very thankful. The outdoor wood stove does a great job heating our house and the mess of the wood stays outside. Plus, J has really been cleaning up the farms in the process.
But I read an interesting article in The Wall Street Journal the other day about heating with wood. (here's the link to the article Where There's Oak There's Fire)
It said to heat a 3000 square foot house for the season with a wood stove that is 72% efficient you would need 3 cords of oak wood. I asked J how much he thought we burned in a season. He wasn't sure but guessed somewhere around 25 - 30 cords.
Now very little of ours is solid oak, a lot of scraps and small limbs, and our house may be a little bigger than 3000 square feet and our stove is a boiler model and not direct radiant heat, but still, that's a pretty big difference.
What I do know is that J works hard to keep us warm and happy and what would we be doing with all those down and dead trees anyway.
Got to go chuck some wood now.
Two bulls were fighting across the fence the other day and tore a section out below the water tank. The water tank was also overflowing and created a nasty mud hole. This is what J had to work in in order to dig a new post hole so he could patch up the fence.
We had been talking and I had mentioned that I was living my dream. Well, really more than my dream because not only did I have my horses and a flat spot to ride, I had an indoor arena. I asked J what his dream was.
He said, "to have all new fences."
For more Good Fences click HERE.
Our Saddle Club Christmas party and first time awards dinner was Saturday. The club had decided to have high point awards for 15 classes combined over three shows. It made for a lot of work but I think it turned out pretty good.
The awards were great. Since we are club members we sort of got to pick out what we wanted to order for ourselves.
E was High Point Showmanship, Western Go As You Please, and High Point Overall Horse. She chose to take her award as cash for a college scholarship. I rode J's horse Brother to High Point in Jr. Horse Go As You Please and Open Western Pleasure.
I decided to combine the money from the 2 classes for one prize, this beautiful saddle pad. It's a very heavy high quality pad and blanket combo.
And the corner patches have one class on one side,
and the other on the opposite side. How great is that! I think I'll have to wait until spring to use it though. It's way too nice to put on an old dirty horse. The weather will have to warm up so I can give one a bath before I try it out.
All day I face the barren waste without the taste of water, cool water
Old Dan and I with throats burned dry and souls that cry for water,
cool water.
Just in case this brought back some childhood memories and you have the desire to listen to the full song, here's the link Sons of the Purple Sage, Cool Water.
