Foss Farm Trail Ride

A team penning friend invited us out to his family farm in Wales, Maine for a trail ride yesterday. It was a beautiful day and the trails were great. We climbed a mountain that provided an overview of town, which was very pretty. The horses were all feeling pretty good - nice, cool weather and they haven't been working much, so they were fresh. Dad had a hard time keeping Kitch from chasing after the other horses that were running. He isn't comfortable at any speed over a trot yet, so he REALLY didn't want to be galloping with everyone else. Tillie was very quiet until after our lunch break. At which point she decided to put on a show for the other riders! It was quite a RODEO!! Twice! Noone could believe that I stayed on. They were sure glad it was me and not them! Once I got her under control though, she never fussed again all afternoon. I think she just has WAY too much energy for the amount of work I'm giving her - after all, she's only 4 and she spends most of her time lazing around in the pasture. Anyway, we had a great time on the trail ride! It was very nice to see some of our team penning friends again and meet some new friends.

While we were riding, the boys were visiting with my husband's parents. They went to church, carved pumpkins, raked/played in the leaves and had a fantastic time with their cousins. We arrived in time for supper and enjoyed a nice meal. Afterwards we went to my parents' house for a quick visit with my brother & his family. We aren't going to be able to see them on Halloween night, so they wore their costumes last night to show all the family. My father decided to scare everyone, so when we arrived at their house, it was all dark. Then, he came out wearing a hideous mask with his headlamp shining red up onto the mask from the front of his shirt collar. VERY scary!! My boys didn't react very well - no screaming from them. But, their cousins DID scream, so Dad was pleased! ;-)

Rainy Saturday...

Ace seems to be recovering nicely from his surgery yesterday. He's a bit swollen, which is to be expected, but his appetite is good and other than moving kinda stiffly, he is active. I put him in the stall I made in the garage with panels at about 5 this morning, when I woke up and found that it was raining. Of course he really would have rather stood in the rain since he was close to the girls, but I told him "Tough, I don't like you getting wet & cold!" So, he proceeded to try to dig a hole to China! (Part of the stall extends out into the yard.)

Dad is trying to get some projects that he has been saving for a rainy day done. Of course, he's got so many lined up that he'll never finish them all today. But, he's making a dent in the list and that feels good. So far today he has fixed the chain saw, lubricated the furnace and now he's working on the pump-up septic system for our downstairs apartment.

The boys are playing quietly (for the most part) in their room. The youngest did brave the outdoors for a little while though. He really doesn't mind getting wet. He had a great time running around with the doggies.


For those of you that are wondering - I have been braiding orange ribbons into the horses' manes because Hunting Season starts today. Some people think I'm crazy. "What kind of idiot would shoot a horse thinking it's a deer?" they ask. Well, every year I read about at least one horse getting shot during Hunting Season, and every year I think that is one too many and I'm determined that it won't be one of mine!! Today, being a rainy day, I don't imagine there will be many hunters out there in the woods. However, on busy days, I have orange blankets that they will wear in addition to their ribbons!! Better safe than sorry....

Ace's adventure....

Hi! I'm Ace. Mommy said that I could write in her blog this evening and tell you all about my exciting adventure. I had the BEST day!! (I think.) Mommy always keeps me in my pasture with Kitch, far away from the mares. But, today Mommy put me in the round pen to play! It's right next to the mare's pasture, so I got to spend the whole day flirting with them! It was really, really fun and Lily & Tillie were enjoying themselves too. We ran and bucked beside each other, squealed & whinnied and carried on like crazy. It was VERY exciting!!

Then, Daddy came home and a strange truck followed him into the yard. This red truck parked right next to my new pen. I was very friendly and came right up to say "Hi!" to the newcomer, who turned out to be a vet, and also to Mommy & Daddy when they all came into my pen to visit. Then the vet pinched me in the neck!! I thought that was kinda rude, but before I could complain, I started feeling very sleepy. The next thing I knew, I was stumbling around the pen trying to wake back up. I feel really weird, but I don't know what is different. The mares are concerned about me and Kitch keeps calling to me. But, now I'm eating my supper and everything seems okay, so I'm going to pass the computer back to Mom. She can fill you in on what happened while I was sleeping....

Ace is now a GELDING!! We had put a call in with an old-timer vet that everyone highly recommended - he has been in business for over 50 years, so pretty much everyone has used him at one time or another. His price for the procedure is much more reasonable than our regular vet. He had an opening become available this afternoon, so Dad hurried home from work to meet him and guide him here. This vet has done so many castrations that he has the method down pat and it only took a little over 1/2 an hour! After the first shot made Ace sleepy, he gave him another shot, which really knocked him out and Ace fell over. The vet directed Dad to straddle Ace's neck and swing his front legs up into the air. (Dad really wanted to take pictures, but fortunately in his position he couldn't and I refused.) Then, the vet knelt down between Ace's back legs, made his incision, pulled out the testicles, tied strong strings really tightly around each cord and then crimped and cut the cords. Simple and done. He gave Ace a shot of penicillin and then Ace started to get up. He stumbled around the pen for a while and then settled into his pile of hay. I'll start giving him antibiotics in the morning, just in case. Other than some swelling and a small amount of discharge, he'll be fine, just a bit sore for a few days. The vet said that he only needed to stay in the round pen overnight. He didn't see any reason why we shouldn't put him right back out in the big pasture with Kitch in the morning. I guess I had thought that after being gelded he would need to be confined, but he said it was better to keep him moving around. Interesting note: the vet drives a 10 year old Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Turbo Diesel that has almost 650,000 miles on it!! Wow!!


I'm really glad to have that over and done with. We have debated it back and forth for a year now. He has such great bloodlines that he would be a great stallion prospect. But, I always said that we can't have a stallion here because they aren't safe around kids. And, I warned him that when he started to act studly, we would have to get him fixed. Well, about a month ago he started to get really pushy and acting like a big-time JERK!! He would have been okay for me to work with, but we need horses that we can trust around the boys. I'm glad that those hormones are going away now. The boys love him dearly and are psyched that he's gelded.

I put the worst of the pictures down here at the bottom of this post. If you're squeamish, you don't want to look! Dad used the camera after the operation...


While he was taking that second picture, I'm afraid that I was screaming like a banshee - "PLEASE don't let the hen eat them!!!!"

Pet quarters...

So far, this week seems to have been devoted to our little pets and making sure that they have better quality homes to live in. Dad & I finished up the new double-decker guinea pig cage yesterday. This morning the boys (there was no school today) carried it in, outfitted it with feeders, waterers & shavings and put the piggies into their new homes. They seem to be comfy...

I took a quick shot of Jengo in the cage next to them...

Daisy thinks watching them is better than television!!

I finally completed the new bunny cages too. The bunnies were in temporary quarters in the garage, so this is a big improvement. Each of them has a nice cozy little wooden house to snuggle in this winter. Dad originally built them for nest boxes for my bantam hens, but they will work perfectly for this purpose as well. Daisy came to meet Airplane Bunny and check out their accommodations.

Yesterday morning this is the sight that greeted me as I looked out my bedroom window....

Sound asleep!! Lily & Tillie spend lots of time pulling hay out of their feeder - which drives Daddy crazy - to make these warm and cozy beds....zzzzz....

Sunrise....

Check out this morning's sunrise......

Breathtaking, wasn't it?

Another hot day....

The weather is gorgeous again today! I'm washing clothes as quickly as I can and getting them hung out on the line. This is probably one of the last days I will be able to do that this year, so I'm taking advantage! I took my time tending the horses this morning and did some yard clean-up while I was out there. The boys had left buckets and bikes and toys strewn everywhere, so I put them all in one pile. I'll stack the buckets and put them away for the winter later on, after they dry out.

Boy, am I a hurtin' unit though! I'm really sore from yesterday's exertions. Last night I took a long soak in the tub and enjoyed a massage. Not to mention liquid muscle relaxant in the form of my new favorite drink - a Chocolate Martini. YUM! I'm sure that all that helped, but it didn't prevent me from feeling sore today. Oh well. I loved every minute of it! ;-)

This afternoon Dad & our oldest boy worked together to build a double-decker guinea pig cage....

Maine Scout Jamboree & The Pinnacle Ride/Hike

Dad & my brother took the boys to the Maine Scout Jamboree. I'm told that it was awesome!! I sure have enjoyed the photos. It looks like they got to do alot of really cool things. The guys came home for some homemade pizza, and then went back in the evening for the live band, an amazing laser light show and BIG fireworks display...Dad is going to write more about their adventures later...

My sister-in-law & I stayed home with my neice & youngest nephew. We saddled up Lily & Tillie and walked the kiddos all over the place for a couple of hours. They had a blast and the horses were GREAT!! They each took a turn riding both Lily & Tillie. We started out walking round and round in the round pen, but the horses were so good that we decided to walk them down to the mailbox. My neice took a saddlebag and carried the mail up for me. Boy, didn't she feel special! While she was riding Tillie in the pen, she practiced jumping off, spinning around in the saddle and even standing UP in the saddle! (Shhhh! Don't tell Grammie!)



The weather was picture PERFECT today, so after a YUMMY breakfast of Belgian waffles, we saddled up Kitch, Lily & Tillie for a ride/hike up the Pinnacle. Dad took the 5 boys and Daisy, drove halfway up the mountain and then they hiked up and met us at the top. My neice rode Lily while I led her, my brother rode Tillie & my sister-in-law rode Kitch. Did you catch that? "My neice rode Lily while I led her." Yup, I got to hike ALL the way to the top of the Pinnacle and back this morning!! I figure that MORE than makes up for anything naugty I ate last week! ;-) It's quite a climb, let me tell you. All the horses were great - although we practically had to push them up the trail. They're so lazy! The hardest part for me was the really long steep climb up the back side of the mountain. I knew it would be a tough climb, but I hadn't counted on the other horses getting ahead of me and Lily dragging me to go as fast as possible because she didn't want to get left behind. OUCH!! It felt like my lungs were going to burst and my legs were like jelly by the time we got to the next level spot. But, once I rested I was good to go some more.

When we got to the top, we all enjoyed the awesome view. The foliage is still very colorful, but Mount Washington isn't white anymore - what little snow they got last week has melted in this unseasonably warm weather that we have been enjoying. The kids climbed all over the HUGE boulders that make up the top of the mountain. We did some group photos, Daddy marked the GPS and then we headed back down, this time with Dad up on Kitch, my nephew on Lily, with me leading, and my brother up on Tillie again. The horses had had a rest, and of course, going down is much easier than up, so Lily had a bit too much energy for being held back behind the other horses. She bucked a couple of times. Fortunately, my nephew thought it was cool and like being a cowboy in a rodeo! Other than that she was such an amazingly good girl for a baby. My sister-in-law did the hike down with the other kiddos and Daisy, and met us back at home. The only problem was that she was wearing my cowboy boots for riding and as comfortable as they are, they are NOT a hiking boot. Ouchy...

After a quick lunch of reheated pizza, my brother drove his family home, and Dad laid down for a nap. I started uploading photos! Then, by mid-afternoon we were back in the saddle. This time with our next door neighbor, who was riding his mare, Lady. We rode Kitch & Tillie again and wandered around in our own woodlands, trying to find new trails. We also took him down to see the waterfall - he hadn't been down there yet. It was a nice quiet ride, except that his mare was in heat, which meant that Tillie had to defend her position as Kitch's girlfriend and kick at the other mare anytime she got too close! VERY annoying!! (not to mention dangerous.) What she doesn't know is that Kitch and Lady share adjacent pastures, so they are longtime pals. She would be soooo jealous. ;-)

Booster shot...

This morning I took Daisy to the vet again for a booster and another vaccination that we didn't want to give her at the last visit because she had already had so many shots. She weighs 40 pounds!! She was a very good girl, nice & quiet. The vet says that she looks great! The only bad part was that I took in a stool sample, but I didn't need to....Yuck!!

This evening I have arranged for the boys to get off the bus at a friend's house so that Dad & I can have "Date Night". It will be nice to have a quiet meal in a restaurant and do some shopping without listening to whiney voices. But, it's going to be an early night - we'll pick the boys up by 8 - because tomorrow is going to be a looooong day. Dad is taking the boys to a Scouting Jamboree at the Oxford Fairgrounds. It's going to be AWESOME for them, but also exhausting, so I want them in bed at a reasonable hour tonight....

Horseback ride to The Pinnacle...

Dad got the round pen put up so quickly this morning that I suggested we do a horseback ride that he's been talking about for ages - up The Pinnacle. The sky was (mostly) clear and the weather was perfect for another beautiful foliage ride! Kitch & Tillie weren't as enthusiastic as we were, but they made it up the mountain. They even seemed to enjoy the view as much as we did! I really wondered what they were looking at - there are many articles out there about horses' depth perception and what they can actually see - but they both seemed to be taking it in just like we were.

The view was stunning with all the colorful foliage. Mount Washington is newly snowcapped(Monday night) , so it really stood out on the horizon. We had an awesome ride!!

Dad has discovered that he can work from the saddle, so I practically had to push him out the door to go to the office...

This is one of the fields that we rode through to get back home. It is right across the street from our house. It's one of my favorite spots to ride.

You can see ALL the photos that we took, here:

Otter Pond Ride

Yesterday I met my 2 sisters-in-law at the Otter Ponds with Kitch & Tillie. After unloading and tacking up, I went to my parents' house and got Sasha. One of them rode Kitch & the other rode Sasha. I rode Tillie and my nephew rode his little pony, Zack. Until the pony had enough, at which point he rode Kitch. He did very well on Kitch and stayed calm, even when Kitch decided to go much faster than he wanted. Being calm is sooooo important, so I was very proud of him!

We rode through the Otter Ponds and then out onto the Mountain Division Trail - a multi-use (but no atv) trail that follows along the old railroad tracks. The girls were really nervous about fitting through this bike gate, but I told them it would be NO problem with MY horses. And it wasn't!!

The weather was GORGEOUS!! Perfect temperature, bright sun on the foliage, we couldn't have asked for better. The horses were feeling pretty full of it, but they behaved. Tillie was great - she stayed behind the other horses when I asked her to, even though that is REALLY scary. I've never ridden a more 'fraidy-cat horse - she is constantly looking behind her and all around her to make sure that there isn't anything coming at her. She spooks a lot, although less & less the more different places I ride her - she's learning that the world isn't that frightening. I'm humoring her. After all, she spent the first 4 years of her life riding in an indoor arena, living in a stall and competing. She had NO idea what a trail ride was until I bought her this spring. She's also having a hard time in the pasture. If there are deer out in the woods, she won't go anywhere near that side of the pasture, even to eat! She's pretty timid...

Sasha was SUCH a good girl! She was bratty, but that's so typical of her and my sister-in-law is REALLY learning how to ride her. She's doing great! Look at her riding along talking on the cell phone...

Yesterday was "Crazy Hat Day" at school. We didn't have any crazy hats, but the boys did make sure that they remembered to wear hats. Our oldest borrowed his brother's Nashville Zoo safari hat and our youngest wore his favorite army hat, which he wears almost every day anyway...

Last night at Cub Scouts I was talking with some of the other parents and I discovered what those helicopter gunships are doing. They are flying a grid work over the state, searching for marijuana plants! Apparently they have to be heavily armed because the planters take these things very seriously. One of the parents had been reading an article about some of the booby traps these guys build - SCARY. Especially for someone like me that spends a lot of time in the woods - I would hate for one of my horses to get hurt by accidentally riding where I shouldn't!

This morning my husband and I are building the round pen!! YEAH!! Monday evening we fired up the tractor and moved the board pile, stack of fence posts and the roofing that were cluttering up the area in front of the mares' new pasture. It was quite a project, but it looks awesome! Now we can put up the round pen there. I can't wait to have an enclosed area for the boys to practice riding. They don't feel confident enough to ride on the trails, so they haven't ridden since last spring.

There was a lot of frost this morning when we woke up. My son "double-dog dared" me to go out into the cold without a coat on - not a problem for me, I do it all the time to tend the animals. So, I "double-dog dared" him to go out in his boxers and tee! He was looney enough to do it and stood there shivering while I ran for the camera!! Haley was wondering what the big deal was, after all she goes out without a coat ALL the time...;-)

Zzzzz....

We enjoyed a quiet weekend at home. On Saturday we finally finished the front line of the mares' pasture. That freed up several metal panels, which I hope to use to build a round pen for schooling the horses in. We also did some more work picking up the yard, so it's really starting to look good - less cluttered. We picked up one of the boys' friends, and he stayed the night. They were going to camp in the back of the pickup, but after about 15 minutes they decided it was too COLD. Yup, winter is settling in up here in the mountains....

On Sunday we didn't have much ambition. Dad worked some on firewood and then took a nice long nap. The boys played outside most of the day, and had a ball! Late in the afternoon we took their friend home, then came home to a supper of baked beans, steak and biscuits, soaked in the gravy from the steak. YUMMY!!

I'm starting my Christmas cross stitching. The Just Cross Stitch Ornaments issue arrived late last week and I'm anxious to get started on my favorite designs. Yesterday I finished the first one and I LOVE it. It is the Poinsettia design by Michelle Lash of Brittercup Designs. The thread that she used to make the flower petals is "Cinders" from The Simply Shaker Sampler Threads collection by The Gentle Art. It is variegated from a dark red to a deep, deep chocolate color. GORGEOUS!! I couldn't wait to stitch with it, which is why this is the first ornament of the season....

While I was stitching the beads into the center of the flower, I remembered an ornament that I had stitched from last year's issue, but never finished beading. So, I went and got it and put the beads on....

The pattern is from the 2006 ornament issue of JCS and was designed by Elizabeth's Designs.

I realized that I hadn't taken any photos of Daisy last week, so I took her out to play fetch this morning and tried to get some pics. She is growing like a weed! We can't believe how big she is getting so fast!! She's such a good girl. She's settling down and now the boys are more interested in playing with her. They didn't like getting nipped all the time, but she's learning not to do that as much. She still does it to Haley though! Boy, do they play rough. Haley gets worn out, but I keep telling her it's keeping her young. ;-)

That last one isn't a great photo, but look at her LEAP!!

Several times over the course of the weekend military helicopters did fly-bys over our valley. They come in really low and do maneuvers around the hills. They were back again this morning, so I ran for the camera (and hoped that they didn't shoot me down for being so presumptuous!) I'm VERY curious about what they are up to! The boys, of course, LOVED seeing them and even said that they wished they weren't friends, but were fighting 'cause they'd like to see them up close, after they crashed. I told them to bite their tongues!! Be careful what you wish for.....a peaceful country is what I wish for...sometimes it's hard raising boys - they're so bloodthirsty...