My Gypsy Vanner Is 5 Months Old Now

Ambleside

Today is her 5th month birthday

She hanging out with Gussy in the front pasture

Yesterday we did a photo shoot with the horses for Christmas cards

She didn't care that she was wearing bells that made noise or that I was dressing her in weird things

Her beauty mark!

 

Black Orchid Ambleside Is Home

On Thursday, November 11, 2021, Amble left her mom, breeder & birth farm forever.

This is her with Nancy, her previous mom, in Canada.

Amble traveled with Walter, another of the foals Nancy bred.

They traveled about an hour, where they met up with the international hauler, Niki at Twilight Hauling, who drove them about 715 miles across the Canadian / USA border to Sandpoint, Idaho. They had to spend the night in the trailer and wait in the morning for the border vat to get there & paperwork entered into the computer.

Here's our set up for her ride home.

Our chauffer, Mr. Brooks

When I first got to meet my new girl, I was crying here, so happy.

November 12, 2021 at 10:30am.

Our first selfie together.

Amble whinnied for Walter once or twice, he answered & then they stopped.

She just wanted to eat, didn't care about me at all.

We stopped for the night at Cindi's house in Ellensburg, it was getting to late for us to cross the pass in the dark with the trucks crappy headlights and there could have been snow or ice.

Cindi set Amble up with a 12x24 turn out & shed, in the pasture with Cindi's boys. Perfect.

We arrived home at 11:30am November 13, 2021

And her final off load, at her new home in the USA.

Meeting the herd

Joey squealed like a mare

I thought Gussy & Amble might get along OK but they both went at each other with both back feet. After 3 days though, I think they're OK together. 

Time to introduce the next one.

So much feather!

And a beautiful tail.

The first time I ever saw a Gypsy was in May 1998 in England, when there was one in the median of the highway tethered there to eat. Michelle told me it was how the travelers fed their horses.  I knew I had to have one.

 In 2010 I rode Billy when I was in England again. 

After I rode, Glen and I went for lunch in Ambleside and that's where I got her name.

I also knew I'd call her Amble.

I contacted Nancy in Canada via FB in about January to inquire about a filly. 

Amble was foaled June 21, 2021 and the rest is history.

I'm so happy to have her home.

 

We Go Get Amble Tomorrow

We are leaving tomorrow morning to go pick up Amble; 

will meet the haulers in Sandpoint, Idaho 

about an hour after they cross the border from Canada.

Two weeks ago I had to navigate the whole border paperwork & information thing, 

I was stressing out. I finally called the agent 

who walked me through every question and I got it all finished in plenty of time.

MORE good news, 

she's got her registration number.

She's 4.5 months old now.

Two weeks ago she had her vet check, 

she weighed in at 440 lbs and is 12.1hh.

Breeder said her head has grown in the last 2 weeks & her halter no longer fits!

We're borrowing this trailer from Erin so we don't have to take our 4 horse slant gooseneck. 

The weather these next couple days isn't going to be good and I'm hoping the snow plows on Snoqualmie Pass can keep up with the snow. 

We have snow chains for the truck and the trailer, if needed.

I cleaned out a little poop yesterday and have this bag of shavings ready to put down for her comfort.

I'll have a pile of hay and a bucket of water, I'll have a muck bucket and fork, 

I'll have an extra halter and lead rope.

I had thought about bringing Gussy along to make her ride hope less lonely BUT he lost a LOT of weight when he went over to visit Annie for 3 days & I don't want him stressing out like that again.

Poor Amble will have to be stressed out alone. Poor baby.

The trailer has one small flaw that I'm concerned about & 

we will figure something out to amend it before we leave.

These two metal cylinders are supposed to be aligned and a pin inserted to keep the door shut 

in case the upper handle comes unhitched for any reason.  

I've asked Lan to straighten them & we will find a pin to insert there.

Lan is out there right now fixing this & taking the dividers out.

 

Covid Still Kicking Our Butts

On Saturday, August 28, 2021 I knew I had Covid.

I was tested on Monday, August 30th and it was positive.

On Wednesday, September 22nd I tested again & the results were negative.

On Friday, September 24th at 11:03am I got the Johnson & Johnson jab.

On Saturday, September 25th, I felt like I had the worst days of Covid all over again and lost 1.5 lbs.

Today, Sunday, September 26th, 2021, I'm feeling better but still not well by any means.

I still have fatigue, cold, headache, metal taste in mouth, followed by super salty taste.

Ok, enough with the fucking Covid Bullshit

We had to drive over to eastern Washington to get a load of hay. We had 6 tons (at $8.50 per bale) arranged but literally at the last minute we found out it had already been sold. 

Drove up the road to another farmers place & got nice green

grass from him for $10.00 per bale. Heavier bales, ended up with 96 of them. I did NOT want Lan to be loading the hay as he has been just as sick as I have been but this was a planned trip and it was the last day before rain and he had to hand load. 

This is the field it came off of.

Kicked our butts getting it into the barn, took about 2.5 hours to get 89 bales up into the loft. Then we had to go get 2 more taprs & spent another hour or more getting them onto the hay. Two years ago I didn't cover it & it molded so last year we did & it worked great.

About 8 or so tons up there.

Hi Wifi

Mack

 

If I can save up another $800 and if I can get Lan to go, I'd like to get more so there's enough to get all the way through wither and spring without having to go buy more locally for at least twice the price.

Amble is getting so big. She's 3 months old already.

Her breeder is Black Orchid Gypsy Horses and this is her first dad, Billy. 

And they are calling Amble 'Billy' because of the story of how I came up with her name. 

It's OK for now but when I message them I call her AmBillie.

Her mom, Sierra, is 14.2hh and throws big babies that usually get bigger than her & they think she's going to get 15.2hh; I'll take whatever she gives me. 

I NEED to be able to buy her something but I have no idea what. It's been 14 years since I've had a baby but I don't know what size of anything to get. I did buy a few fat quarters of fabric so I can attempt to make a few fly bonnets and we shall see how those turn out. I still want to buy her something.

 

Coming Home Soon

Black Orchid Ambleside,

aka Billie

She's 2.5 months old here. 

We're making tentative plans for her to come home in November. 

Shipper wants $775 to haul her from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada to Sandpoint, Idaho. 

I'll pay the deposit of $300 today.

We'll be going to eastern Washington on Saturday for another 5 tone of hay, then we'll have 9 in the barn. I'd like to have 12 tons for the winter.

 

New Hair

I've been growing it for 5 years, it was too my waist.

And now its off. Its been 2 days and I haven't missed it or regretted it yet.

Julia cut these 4 pony tails off to donate them, each of these is 22 inches long 

plus she cut off another 4 inches

These will go to a place that makes wigs & give them to cancer patients for free

 

Bullshit At The Doctors Office

 Lan got sick & came home early from work on Wednesday, August 26th and I went to work that day.

He was sick Thursday, August 27th, and I had the day off.

We were both off Friday, August 28th and he was sick, I was still feeling OK so we took the SxS out to Republic, WA. for the weekend. 

Saturday morning,  August 29th, I felt a little dizzy and started coughing. Later that day I was just feeling plain icky, he still was too. Went for a night ride and that exhausted me.

Sunday,  August 29th, we were both sick so packed up and came home early.

Monday, September 1st, we both went to Silverdale (50 miles round trip) and got tested for Covid.

Tuesday, September 2nd, our results came back POSITIVE. Both of us were feeling poorly, him worse than me, and we just took it easy. I was still able to go feed horses by myself.

By Saturday, September 4th, both of us were too sick to do anything besides sit or sleep all day. It took both of us to feed horses.

On Tuesday, September 7th, I began puking everything I was eating.

Thursday, September 9th, I went to ER for the puking. Waited in waiting room for 5 hours where they gave me a shot for the nausea, then in ER room for another hour. I was given another nausea shot & prescription for anti-nausea pills & sent home. 

Friday, September 10th, work HR called to see if I was going to be able to work Sunday, the 12th. I said no. I had to send in proof I'd been in the ER.

Monday, September 13th, at 1:40pm I had been scheduled to receive my 1st Covid Vaccine but I was still sick and had to cancel the appointment. I was still experiencing nausea, coughing, headache, body aches, etc.

Tuesday, September 14th, I had a phone appointment with my doctor. She said she would write a letter for my work explaining why I hadn't been able to get the shot on time.

Thursday, September 16th, went to pharmacy to pick up additional anti-nausea pills. Asked receptionist for letter from doctor but he only printed out one saying you can get the Covid shot 10 days after you test positive and have no fever or other symptoms. That wasn't what she had told me I'd get & I got mad at him. He deserved it.

Friday, September 17th, HR calls again, wants explanation of why I haven't gotten the shot yet and I need a note from doctor of when I can come back to work. I called the doctors office and asked if they have Johnson & Johnson and she said yes, and I can come into the office today for a shot. I go, they say I can't have the shot because I still have symptoms. VERY frustrated. Got home, another PA from the doctors office calls to respond to the message I wrote them after not getting the correct letter from the receptionist. I'm currently waiting for another doctor to call to inform me if I can go back today for the shot or not. I DO NOT want the shot, this isn't something I want to do at any time in my life. I do not believe in being forced into this experimental medical procedure. And the doctor never called me back.

We've Got Covid

 Last week Lan came home early on Wednesday, coughing & a fever. I went to work & had Thursday off, where I drove my son to his dentist appointment. Friday Lan was feeling up to taking the SXS to Liberty, WA so we packed up & left. Saturday morning I was dizzy & coughing. We stayed till Sunday morning & then he drove us home, where we both came in & went straight to bed.

Monday morning we went to Silverdale & got tested, Tuesday morning the POSITIVE results we returned to us. Since then our fevers have come & gone, Lans getting up to 103.9, my highest was 100.9.  Other symptoms:

Fever

Cough

Sweats

Chills

Body aches

Headaches

Nausea

Diarrhea

Weight loss

Loss of taste

Taste of metal

Dizziness

Earache

I'm sure there are others that just aren't coming to me right this second. Its day 10 for him, day 8 for me. Every day I make us do all the necessary chores that HAVE to be done, whether or not we feel like doing them. We both need to get fresh air & exercise our lungs and besides last Sunday when we got less than 2000 steps, I've gotten at least 5000 except Thursday I didn't even get 2000. I spent that whole day in bed. It was an extremely rough day for me.

He was able to get a prescription for cough medication that helps a LOT. Hes also gotten phone calls from his doctor, the CDC & the county health department. I haven't gotten any calls from anyone except our HR & thats because I called them first. I'm very pissed off that my doctors office hasn't returned my calls at all.

We took a drive around Olympic National Park without entering the park at all.

Started at Ocean City beach

Then we went to Ruby Beach. There were lots of people here

There were lots of houses built from beach driftwood

And lots of these rock piles

Also stopped to see the giant Cedar Trees, very cool

While walking on one of the beaches I found a brand new GoPro camera

After we got home I got the photos off it & saw this guy.

Did a bit of sleuthing and found out his name is Noah, he lives in Utah, his uncle owns the bike shop in the town near where I found the camera.

He lost it Thursday, I found it Sunday about 5 miles away.

I mailed it to him in Utah. 

It was a good day for us, nice and sunny, not too warm nor too cool. 

It felt GREAT to walk barefoot on the beach in the sand

 

Paid Off

I *think* Amble is the foal lying down below the sun

Shes playing with the other foals

I sent the final payment in the amount of $4,700 to the breeder and I'm hoping she receives it soon, it's been about 10 -14 days already. They're in Canada & the cost of a tracking number was $18-24 and who even knows if it would work internationally?

I think this is pretty cute

Got the CanAm back from the shop, they said its not even broke in yet so we need to ride it more. They did fix the banging in the rear end.

So we went up to Mount Rainier onto the Naches Trail.

This place was beautiful. It's along the Pacific Crest Trail 

so there were several Through Hikers resting there

Anyone can camp in this cabin. 

They had a sat phone people could use to call loved ones.

It would be a great place to rest overnight with horses

This was along part of the Naches Trail also

I think we should call it Pigpen, after the Peanuts character

You can't even begin to see how steep it was or how big some of the holes & rocks were

This was on the way back to the parking lot, we didn't go up this end on our way out, just down it. It had places that were SCARY. 

But so much fun