An Early Morning Scare

So in this picture, Maggie seems unconcerned and is preoccupied by the common horse behavior of grazing. This presents a very different picture than just a mere hour or so earlier...
I emerged from the house at about 6:15, bucket of horse food in one hand, accompanied by my beloved Robin the Good who was providing escort. I had just gone through the gate when Robin began to bark; I assumed she had spotted turkeys or a deer in the field. But it was unusual that Maggie wasn't at the fence, waiting for her breakfast. She does like to eat her grain and most typically greets my early morning feed with lusty whinnies and sometimes even a buck or gallop or two. I checked the barn and didn't see her there and was wondering where she had gotten to when I spied a green lump in the middle of the field near a brush heap. The green lump, of course, was her form swaddled in her lighter winter blanket. (See above photo).
My first thought was, "Good grief! Maggie has gone and died!" I mean, she is elderly and will disembark for that giant paddock in the sky sometime soon. (You will remember that my ex-blacksmith thought she should be put down last winter. She's had a whole year more to live, in relative horse bliss; getting brushed and fed and generally doing low key things.) I approached her singing her name and trying not to scare her if she was merely sleeping.
But as I got closer, I realized that she was in an awkward position, lying on the ground with her feet uphill from her back and head so that if she tried to rise, she was fighting against the weight of her body. I went downhill and stroked her head and said her name and her eyes opened and she tried to get up again but just couldn't. She tried several terrifying times to stand. I started calculating in my head just how many neighbors I'd need to round up to help her regain her feet. ( Horses sometimes get "cast" in their stalls, with their legs up against a wall. They need serious help to right themselves or can hurt themselves and die. With the assistance of ropes, you can right them, but it takes strength and luck!)
I started back up the hill, considering the odds of Maggie being unhurt. But as I got to the gate, I turned and saw... MAGGIE upright and coming to get her grain. Don't ask me how she finally managed to gain her footing, but she proceeded to walk in a normal fashion- no limping or anything- and made a bee line for her grain.
I examined her but there were no cuts or swellings or abrasions... boy was she lucky. Boy was I lucky! I gave her a "bute" (the horsey equivalent advil) and took the picture above, but she had apparently already forgotten her earlier struggle and didn't seem to understand why I was fussing over her. Well, she scared the hell out of me- and too early in the morning! But Maggie is a tough old bird.

What We Do For Fun, Part 102

This is Maggie the Mexican Pony's field. At first glance, this may seem pretty- all those dainty white flowers. And they are pretty: millions of tiny stiff asters... which Maggie won't eat. I proposed to Bob that I would mow the field and eliminate the flowers, before they set seed.

No, we don't have a huge brush hog or a tractor or even a riding lawn mower. We have a simple push mower and Bob has a weed whacker. Together, we decided to conquer the "Back Forty". For scale, here's the lawn mower in context:

That's the lawn mower, and by the time I had taken this picture, we'd mowed and whacked nearly half the field. Not an easy task but the day was pleasantly cool/warm and the bugs weren't bad. It's sort of like that classic Barbara Kruger piece, "It's a small world until you have to clean it". Things get bigger as you push equipment through it.

Right in the middle of the field, there is a mysterious area with dead grass in it. It's about the size of a large dining table and appears to have been burned. Weird. Maybe the aliens have landed here in their miniature space ship in attempt to create our very own Area 51. We may never know!
Anyway, we did about 2/3 of the pasture in two rounds this afternoon, before and after coffee. Bob weed whacked the edge of the field so that the electric fence would once more work. Here he is, again, with a helpful pink arrow pointing at him in the distance:

 You can see the area (dimly) to the right where we haven't mowed yet. Maybe tomorrow? Can't do everything in one afternoon!

That's a zoomed in version of Bob weed whacking, with a pile of fire wood waiting to be rescued. That was one of the several reasons we had for clearing the field. This pile of wood has been there since last last spring, before the tornado. We've had so many other stacks, heaps, piles and mounds of wood that this was not a big priority. But we needed to clear so that we could drive the truck down into the pasture and move the wood. I'm waiting until cooler weather so as not to disturb hornets, snakes and other varmints who may be hiding out!

Bye Bye Deep Freeze

Yup! We had minus 11 degrees on Sunday morning. I am not one to advocate spending a whole lot of time opining about the weather, but Holy Cow!! It was majorly nasty cold.
I am supporting the theory that "brain freeze" prohibited me from accomplishing anything brilliant in this last week, unlike certain "stable geniuses" who are, like, really smart. Don't get me started...
I worked on my pieces for my ONE-PERSON SHOW in NEW YORK (bragging rights!) in the living room (my previous studio if you recall) because attempting to heat my studio was ludicrous. It just takes all day and becomes a waste of wood. The work looks good and let's be thankful that I was doing finish up hemming and edging and not requiring myself to make aesthetic decisions of great import. So many details to complete!
But today is supposed to be almost 40. I find it hard to believe after that protracted sub-zero spell we endured; even the 17 degrees it is outside right now feels relatively balmy. Robin and I took our first walk in over a week. That's almost unheard of in this household! But Robin doesn't have a big dense coat of fur like Jules or Frank the Dog; she's silky and isn't partial to the cold. In fact, she was eager to retreat to the office upstairs and curl up in a tight ball.
How Maggie the Mexican Pony survives is anyone's guess. She had icicles on her eyelashes on Sunday. But her winter coat is tremendous (she looks like a stuffed animal) and she has her high neck ultra thick super arctic horsey blanket on and she was happy (well, maybe not happy) to stand around outside (despite free access 24/7 to her nice stall. To each his/her own!
I know it's winter and we should be grateful that some of the insects that plague us will be in shorter supply comes spring and summer, but I'm craving sunshine and warmth. The furnace has been coming on too often and I'm seeing dollar signs flying up the chimney. I am also hoping for good weather to install my show, not to mention for my opening. I have a mark to make on the art world. Winter weather be damned!

Catching Up With Maggie

I have been told by Maggie that I am ignoring her fan club and haven't posted about her in quite a while. Well, there she is, in all her resplendent glory outfitted in her new rain coat; quite fashionable- and functional!
I am not an inveterate blanketer of horses: their heavy winter coats offer plenty of protection and there are independent studies that show that their coats can stand up or lay flatter to provide insulation and warmth. But when it gets really cold (we had minus 2 last week) I bundle Maggie up in a heavy jacket that I've had for years (Crispin wore the same winter blanket) and I know Maggie appreciates the extra warmth.
And Maggie is a girl who likes to stand around outside when it sleets and snows. She gets all wet and if the temperature drops, I worry that she'll get sick. She's not a young horse and while I realize it's probably my projection of how I'd feel in the wet and cold, I purchased the above rain protection for her. I think she likes it.
(And I will amend that  the act of purchasing a horse rain sheet is not as simple as it sounds. There are many brands and styles (not to mention "novelty" colors and patterns, like peace signs and breast cancer awareness and zebra stripes and Burberry plaid: haute couture for the horse!) and you have to measure your beast carefully so that you achieve a proper fit. It was nerve wracking somewhat expensive (believe me: you can spend hundreds of dollars) and you want it to be just right. Does she look okay? Does it make her butt look big? If you see Maggie, just tell her it looks fabulous!)
I would also like to offer a wee rant about how this is not the easiest weather to care for our four-footed friends. The cold and dark at 6:00 or 7:00 am is atrocious but I feel the need to run out and feed Maggie as she's been standing around in the elements all by herself. She's got to be at least a little hungry and miserable! The food is the easy part.
The water is the worst! Dreadfully early in the morning, I schlepp two (heavy) plastic pails of water, filled at the kitchen sink. (No hose or outside faucet in the cold weather.) These buckets are to be emptied into the two buckets in Maggie's activity area. One is inside the stall, next to the hay rack; the other is outside, clipped onto the fence so that she can't knock it over. (She tries anyway...) Both of these outdoor buckets are frozen solid- I mean SOLID. I wrestle one free from the hook, drag it outside the fence and pound the ice with a metal fence post, reserved just for this occasion, and stamp on the side to further smash the ice. (The other day, Bob had to use a sledge hammer as it was so cold and so frozen I couldn't get the ice to budge.)

The other fun thing to throw into the mix is that Maggie likes to take a sip of water while consuming her hay. Many horses do this, but I can tell you that it makes a nasty, noxious green "soup" in her water bucket as the hay festers in the water along with a goodly dose of horsey saliva. Boy oh boy does it stink on a warm day! In the cold weather, the hay freezes into the ice like so much fiberglass reinforcement and makes getting the ice out of the bucket even harder. And you haven't lived until you chop a hole in the ice and the slushy, slurpy demi-ice sloshes back up out of the bucket and onto your pants or down you boot! Hooray for winter!

Wholesome Outdoor Projects and Dog Harnesses

Bob and I spent several really nice days recently enlarging Maggie's horse field to include a few random corners of property (like down by the pond) that actually give her more grazing. As the fence is electric, it's pretty easy to move the posts and restring the three lines of wire; you just have to remember to disconnect the electricity first. Maggie seemed happy to have an expanded world view and more square footage to explore and chew down. We are looking at re-seeding the horse field with pasture grass, as there is a lot of moss and the grass has been eaten down.
And this certainly reinforces how lucky we are to have such a nice piece of earth to wander on and call our own. Happy Earth Day!

Strangely, there was a hawk sitting on the grass down by the new area two days ago. I just hope the hawk wasn't scoping out our mallard duck, who likes to hang out on our pond. We also have a visiting Blue Heron that enjoys the amenities of our swampy little pond. Sometimes I wish the pond wasn't there and that corner was solid ground, but then I remember how birds (and other things) call the pond home... like bull frogs and peepers and little fish.

A view back up through the trees towards our BauHaus Chicken Coop. I am admiring the slanting rays of a Spring day- a full moon and spring fever to boot! I think even our little dog (who's not such a small puppy- I call her "The Big Puppy") is experiencing spring fever...
And a new harness! Robin (somehow... don't ask!) makes me think of an astronaut, ready for adventure, when she has her new harness on. My generous sibling and her partner (aka Beatrice and John) gave Robin the Good a gift certificate to an pet store. I suspect that lil' Robin would have liked a toy (to destroy and dismember in the space of three minutes!) but I thought a harness with which to introduce her to the delights of walking together was a better investment. (Probably made her think like we would of socks for Christmas!) But it's been a hit and she doesn't strangle and choke when pulling on the leash.

(Quite the tongue!) But here's Robin the Good modeling the harness. Here's another shot:

(No, she hadn't collapsed from exhaustion; she was merely fidgeting as I tried to fit her harness on her.) Another possible use for the harness arose the other morning at breakfast when I told Bob that if Robin was very bad while I went to work, he could attach a leash to Robin's harness and hang her from a hook on the ceiling. Hahahahhaaha. Only kidding Robin!

Dog and Pony Update

I haven't featured our fluffy barnyard friends recently so I decided this was as good a time as ever. Let's check in with Maggie the Mexican Pony and Jules the (Perfect) Dog.
This is what greeted me in the field today:

Maggie spent a good part of the night shellacing herself in mud. Do we remember that Maggie is a BLACK horse? Here's a detail of her back end:

She looks like a brown and black zebra! After thirty minutes of currying and brushing, she looked marginally better but wherever you touched her, puffs of dust arose. In addition, she has thoughtfully whacked her foot on a frozen chunk of mud (I am conjecturing...) and took a big piece of her hind hoof off. Ouch. No pictures of the damaged foot- it's too pathetic!- but here's her other side. It's a bit more presentable:

At this stage of the winter, with all the fuzzy coat, it's almost impossible to clean them. Maggie resembles and old sofa in a basement rec room.
And Jules? Yes, the Perfect Dog continues his winning ways.

There he is, contemplating his very favorite activity. (Hint: it has something to do with chasing small round things.) Maybe he's waiting for snow. He does like snow, unlike the rest of us. But in the meantime, Jules has made himself super useful by providing logs for the wood stoves. Most mornings, he selects a log or stick from our walk and carries it back home. Our neighbors find this highly entertaining, especially when he chooses an especially long branch and he looks over his shoulder, expecting me to pick up the other end and help him carry it home. We then proceed up the road like a yoke of oxen. How perverse is it that he makes me work on our walks?

But there's a new twist. Jules is pretty smart and he figured out how to correctly train me. Several times recently, he picked out a log that was a bit too wide around to fit comfortably in his mouth. He struggled with lifting it and I'd try and help but I found myself carrying his log, with Jules glancing approvingly at me. I have become a log valet for the dog!

End of Year Project- Kudos to Bob

I wish I had thought to take a picture of the barn before Bob put this lovely wood door up! He really surprised me by just taking the initiative and doing it.
Previously, this section of the barn (which store Maggie's hay supply) was cloaked in an increasingly deteriorating tarp. Looked like shanty town! But Bob cleverly used wood that we had left from other projects and hardware that we had been given to us... in short, it cost like nothing and works really well. The right hand side rolls on a track so you can open  and close it easily. He put a great metal handle on it and it will weather to the same grey in short order. Both Maggie and I are very happy although the picture below doesn't seem to suggest that! Sometimes, it's very difficult to make your horsey friend put her perky little ears forward in a semblance of a good mood:

She appears a tad suspicious in this picture; sort of the "Leave me alone. I was sleeping and what's that annoying little box in your hand? No, I won't put my ears forward and look like your pleasant little palfrey!" But at least her hay is nice and dry and the barn looks so much better. I guess the unseasonably warm inspired Bob to get the door done. We are enjoying the strange December benevolence but it's worth remarking that this is happening during the Paris Climate Summit. Mother Nature does seem intent on reminding us that we're messing around with the natural order of things. Let's hope that- Climate Change deniers aside!- the powers that be come to firm resolve about our environment and everyone gets on board!