Tuesday May 8, 2007

Vet came after noon. Worked with him till late. Did two geldings (Big Red and Corry) and we implanted two mares with my new Foaling alert system. We did shots and gave two fillies an ovulation push (they got in with Ryder but are too young to foal safely). Worked most of the day.

That evening a neighbor came over to help us de-horn our 5 baby goats. Boy, what a nasty process. We started with the paste method, but had to hold this goat for 30 minutes to keep it from rubbing the paste on itself, then tie it for 6 hours to keep it still. That was horrid. So we tried the burning method for the other four and, though I hated it, it was quick and within minutes the goats were romping and playing again. Took about 3 hours total. We made dinner and Sarah and Evan (both neighbors who showed up to help) stayed to eat.

Dave and I were both so sore and exausted from two days of hard work that we fell into bed. We should have the next couple evenings to recouperate!

Monday May 7, 2007

Dave and I worked after he finished work (at home!!). We spent about 4 hours moving horses, fencing, and putting away over 1000 lbs of grain. A neighbor came by to help us do most of it and that was greatly appreciated. I did very little of the actual work, since I can't do anything heavy with my back yet.

Dave and I caught 4 horses and brought them down to the house for the vet tomorrow.

Sunday May 6, 2007

Went into town with my mom and the horse trailer early in the day. Picked up my nice and took her to the park so my sister and her husband (and mom) could go look at some houses. Also took her with me to pick up a horse. Drove to Stevensville to get Onyx, a 3-year-old we sold a year ago. His owners have to move out of state and need to sell their horses. We are handling Onyx's sale for them.

Got back and dropped off my niece. Went to pick up Dave and we took Onyx home. Dave is finally home!!

Friday May 4, 2007

Temps in the mid-high 30's today with lots of heavy snow on and off. I spent the day resting, trying to recoup from doing too much yesterday. Animals are doing well. A coyote came calling, but he dogs sent him packing. I went down to town to pick up the first part of a ton of grain that I ordered a while ago. Picked up my mom to come back up as well - thought I could use a little more help the next couple days. Trying not to over-do it.

Thursday

Before we could use the tiller I rented we had to get the truck and trailer out of the mud, which was worse than when I got it stuck because we got 6 inches of wet, heavy snow last night and it was still coming down hard this morning. Jarred had to go to a neighbor to borrow a special kind of jack, then spend an hour digging the trailer out just so we could get it unhooked and get the truck free. He called another neighbor who works from home and asked for help getting the trailer out (that neighbor has a truck we thought would pull it free - mine wouldn't). He came over and the two of them spent another hour digging and pulling and getting that free. We have good neighbors up here - he said he was happy to get to play with his truck.

We got the garden tilled and I went to town. I had loaded up 6 chickens to give to a client/friend who recently lost her chickens. As I pulled in I noticed that Nefertari (this was the client who bought Nefertari from me) had a baby by her side. Turned out she had the baby that night (1:43 in the morning) and Kathy (client/friend) got to be there for the whole thing. Beautiful baby of Ryder's.

Called another client while I was in town. She had left me a message and wanted to see Ryder. She said she lived down on Deschamps Lane and I told her that was where Ryder was at the moment - at Western Montana Equine. She was very excited - said she had been drooling over him since he got there. Had seen him every day in their pastures. I introduced them and I think that she will breed to him.

Got home after 10pm. My mom stayed in town to help my sister. Going to see how I do alone for a few days. Dave comes home on Sunday.

Wednesday May 2, 2007

Destiny is better and came home today. She had a piece of a stick wedged in her ankle. One of the problems with letting the horses roam in pastures with hillsides and woods...

Got home this evening with her and promptly got the trailer stuck in front of the big barn. I forgot that it had been raining for two day up here too and would be too muddy to turn around down there. Arg. My mom walked to the far pasture to feed for me and took a sled to pull the bales (even though there is no snow). Other than that, everything is good here. I am healing quickly and doing remarkably well.

Tuesday May 1, 2007

Got up today and mom did the feeding. We loaded up a winter's worth of ranch trash, old fencing and such, into the truck (took most of the morning). We planned to go to town for my sister's birthday and spend the night. Jarred was working at the ranch and keeping an eye on things.

As we got ready to leave, we saw that Destiny was limping. We pulled her out and washed up her legs (its been raining and she was splashed with mud). Got her fixed up and found that she has some swelling in her ankle - maybe an abscess. Hooked up the trailer and took her to town. Left her for the vet.

Also arranged for Ryder to do an AI shipment today. The vet did it and he spoke for a while about how impressed he is with Ryder as a stallion. Such good manners, so polite and easy to control. I was really glad to hear such a good report on him!