Just Kit Sunday #24

Kit kept me company yesterday while I did some yard work.  

 It was time to cut back lots of peonies, cone flowers, black eye'd Susan's and various other things.

 Kit took it upon himself to inspect the truck load.

I guess we passed inspection but he did look like he thought something suspicious was afoot.
J and E had a good time on the 40 yard line at the Va Tech Hokie game.  Sister L gave us a free pair of tickets to the game and E wanted to go so I got to stay home and get some much needed chores done.

Friday's Fences #100

I went to the vacation archives for these fences.

 Snow fence in Wyoming at sunrise this summer.  Sorry about the blur, it was taken from the car window going 80.

Another beautiful Wyoming sunrise.  There are some fence posts in there somewhere.
For more Friday's Fences click HERE.

Breeding Soundness Exam

We normally don't do a breeding soundness exam on our bulls.  J is really good about checking the cows and knows pretty quickly if he is having repeat breeders.  This spring however, one of his favorite bulls had a breeding related injury and had to be taken out.  

It's about time to put one in for the fall cows and we were needing to know if he was recovered enough to do his job.

A friend of ours is a repo specialist and came over to check him out.  Everything was a ok.  He even said our Hillbilly Harland bull is as good as anything he had seen from Cooper Hereford Ranch in Montana.  Go Hillbilly go.

What's Blooming and Other Things

So here are a few random things for today. 

 The mums have opened up to be in full bloom.  Makes me wish I had a few more of them around the yard.

 And can you believe my camellia bush is blooming again.  Maybe since it is really outside of it's temperature zone it just doesn't know when it is suppose to bloom.

 And the pears are getting ripe.   But I'm holding off on making pear sauce for awhile,

 because I am busy making APPLE SAUCE!  The old trees over at our other farm had apples this year.  J and I went over and were able to pick some by standing on a ladder in the pickup bed.  These are pretty big trees.

And last random thing, Brother usually canters everywhere he goes.  Today he cantered down toward the barn where I was leading Wrangler to get shoes today.  It had rained nearly an inch this morning so when Brother stopped to keep from running through the fence, he slid about 10 feet.  Maybe we should look into some reining training for him.

Warning, Warning, Warning...Horse Show Pictures Ahead

J and I went to another horse show today.  E claimed something about a Saturday study session for Governor's School which she didn't want to miss so she didn't go with us.  V had a ticket to VT Homecoming so she didn't come either.   Oh well, maybe next time.  

 This time we took Wrangler and Brother.  There was absolutely no reaction from Wrangler to anything there.  Even the lunging this time was uneventful.  Brother was a little more spirited but J stuck with him then got on and walked and trotted around.  I took over and did some cantering with him which he did great.  

 Wrangler went first in Adult Western Go As You Please.  I broke down and wore a real show shirt but kept my helmet and brim.

 And we won 1 out of 3.  He is still barefoot and the ring was crushed gravel, so I didn't try cantering him any.  Plus, he had stepped on some sort of plastic fastener which stuck in his hoof on the way to the ring.  It wasn't too deep and I pulled it out, but I was very worried about it making him limp.

 In his second class, Green Horse/Beginner Go As You Please, he did about the same as in his first class.  But the judge came up to me to say that his head was too low, ears below withers for more than 5 strides.  She said she loved him and he was "breath taking".  She just wanted to let me know why we were 4th out of 5.  I really appreciated the explanation.

 Meanwhile, I took Brother in Open Stock Seat Equitation walk/jog.  He was really doing well, going slow and keeping his head down for the most part.  Something would occasionally catch his eye and his head would shoot up in the air, but I could regain his attention and get it back down.  We walked away with 2nd out of 9 in that class.  J was very excited about that.

 He had been doing so good that I went ahead and tried a canter class, English and Western W/T/C or W/J/L.  Brother did beautifully, picked up both leads, one down the straight-a-way in front of the grandstands from a walk.  His lope is soooo smooth, it is effortless to ride.  

 Can you believe we walked out with 1st out of 8?  Not too bad for his first show.

 J did a wonderful job again with the picture taking and helping me get the horses switched back and forth, Wrangler, Brother, Brother, Wrangler.

And I won one of the raffle drawings.  I picked this cute halter, it's cob size but I'm sure it will fit someone here.  If not, maybe J will let me get one it will fit.  

So, all in all, a great starter show for the 2 year old and 3 year old. 

Friday's Fences #99

When I left for work today I asked J to take the camera with him when he went to check the fall calving cows.  He came back with some perfect Friday's Fences pictures.  30 of the cows have calves so far.  

 I think that this one through a fence is my favorite.

 Baby calves make very cute subjects.

 And in front of a fence.

J may have a future in this blog photography thing.
For more Friday's Fences click HERE.

Crazy Clients

I'm having to work a little extra this week so no picture today but I will tell you about one of my appointments yesterday.

The complaint was - Dog swallowed a rock.  I told the Tech to set up for x-rays.

Me - Did you see your dog swallow a rock?

Ms. Rockette  - No, but she likes to play with rocks and I'm just waiting for her to swallow one.

Me - What is she doing that makes you think she may have swallowed one today?

Ms. Rockette - I let her outside and when she came back in she was pawing at her face.  I gave her some water but she wouldn't drink.

Me - Well, her chin is very red and swollen.

Ms. Rockette - She did that herself with the pawing.

Me - Maybe she is pawing because it itches.  It looks like she has been stung.  See, her is a spot that looks like a sting and it's red all around it.

Ms Rockette - Well, why wouldn't she drink her water?

Me - Because she was too worried about itching her chin where she was stung and maybe she wasn't thirsty right at that instant.

Ms Rockette - So you don't think she swallowed a rock?

Tech - What happened to the dog for the x-rays.

Me - Don't ask.