Barn Pics

The ponies are blowing up like ticks. Even Moon is getting a belly on him...
COOL!!

Frosty is getting his pre-winter coat dapples...
Kinda hard to see in this pic I guess. But his neck and shoulders turn almost black and get huge dapples before he gets his winter coat.

Queen looks like she is due to foal soon(she is NOT bred-LOL)....
But she isn't about to share a bit of her grain with her roomies.

I was going to ride tonight but the BO was busy cleaning and setting up another dry lot....
I figured I could wait one more day before getting back into the swing of things.

He got the arena pretty well cleaned up though...



Prior to this guy buying the place, this was a nice show barn...
The little dude out front startles me every time I walk around the corner to turn the water on. LOL!

They don't use many of the stalls for horses. Several are filled with hay, some are filled with "stuff"...


This little beauty is a new addition since I kept horses here last fall....
Now wouldn't that be a fun little bugger to fix up and toodle around in?

I survived the first day at the office in pretty good shape. Nothing like walking into doing payroll the first day. We managed. For those of you who wondered...NO, those two women who thought they were all that last fall no longer work for us. Imagine THAT?! Getting rid of them didn't really have anything to do with the way they treated me...but it certainly brought their shortcomings to My Honey's attention. The Operational Manager that Chris hired at the beginning of this year is the one who got rid of them. One wasn't doing her job and the other was padding her timecard...and her husband's bonus'. No wonder they didn't want me around the office. I am replacing the OM-he got a job offer he couldn't turn down...and My Honey told him to go for it. Those are hard to come by in these tough economic times. He's still a good friend, so if we get really stuck trying to figure something out...Chris doesn't hesitate to call him up and ask. Gotta love that!:-)

Settling In

We have all pretty much gotten settled in.

The dogs have dug their nests under the new porch.

Chris and I have been cleaning house. I've been painting rooms.

And the ponies seem pretty content in their new surroundings...
Moon and Frosty have about an acre of irrigated pasture and Queenie is currently sharing her similar pen with a couple of feeder steers.

The barn owner is such a nice guy. He is working on cleaning the weeds out of the round pen and arena for me. He only has a couple of other outside horses and they are actually retired horses, so the owners don't ride. The BO only uses his horses during hunting season and helping move cattle off the mountains, so he doesn't use the facilities either.

I get the whole place to myself. He said I was more than welcome to set up any patterns I wanted to in the arena-barrels, poles, trail, etc. and no one else will bother my stuff. How nice is that?

Besides the big turnouts, there is a very fancy barn, that is not used. So, the ponies each have their very own fancy, shmancy stall if the weather gets really nasty or I want to keep them up for any reason.

Our "soon-to-be" roping buddy stopped over yesterday to show us his new mare. He has his roping arena set up and cattle there already. He said we were welcome to come over and use the arena anytime.

A person can stay pretty busy going to different shows, gymkahnas and barrel racings around here this time of year. There is a weekly rodeo just a couple of miles down the road. I don't know if Moon will be ready to start back to running barrels before those end this year, but we might be able to hit the last one or so.

Starting tomorrow, I'll be helping out in the office. I'm kind of wondering if my brain is ready to handle having to function in an office setting again. Hopefully it won't take too long to get back into the swing of things.

Big Blue And Stupid Government Ideas

I'm locked and loaded...and plumb wore out. I have pretty much crammed my entire fall chores into a couple of weeks. What's not done is just going to have to wait.

Today was pretty much spent running around trying to get the last of the horses feet trimmed. My hands are sore, sore, sore. This time of year, trying to trim the feet of the horses who have been running in the pasture is pretty much like trying to chip away at cement.

The last horse that needed trimmed was studly. To save herself a trip, mom asked if I would take Andrea's favorite blue horse down to the ranch, so my brother has a saddle horse.

So I popped the big blue horse in her trailer and headed the back road to the ranch.

What's wrong with this picture?...


Does this help?...


For as far as you can see in any direction, this is all there is...


And the government in it's infinite wisdom thinks we need street signs? No wonder our country is broke. This has to be one of the stupidest things I think I have ever seen. Damn! We can do just fine without these types of civilization encroachments. If you don't know where you are out here...either stop and ask(people are pretty friendly) or just keep driving until you end up somewhere...I know for a fact that any way you turn on this road, you'll eventually end up at a bar. That should be good enough!

Well, maybe they put them up so the cows know where they are....
Bwahahahah...I crack myself up. I know...I'm a dork!

Blue doesn't get overly excited about anything. He just perks his ears and looks things over...


I think he simply sighed a big sigh of relieve when he realized he has a corral to himself...
For as big as he is, Blue is a sissy. EVERYTHING picks on him. For some reason, he has never, ever melded with the herd. Very strange considering he was born on the place along with everything else. He is an outcast. So, I think he is going to like his new digs. His own corral space and the fenced off area around the place to graze in. And he will get the attention he craves from my brother. Brother already called...twice! The first time he called to say Blue was doing fine and that he though Blue liked him. The second time he called to say that Blue LOVED him. Oh good god! Two simpering, sissies meet-LMAO.

And remember how I said I think Beretta is getting the same glistening body color as her daddy? How's this for shiny?...
Pistol just glitters. Now that's what I consider a pretty bay...but then I guess I am a little prejudiced.;-)

Well, I'm down the road. I'm excited to go. But today was a bit sad. I will certainly miss my wide open prairie and all the horses. Good thing I can come home anytime I want! It might not be Megan who gets to missing me, but me who gets to missing HOME.