Another Trip To Idaho

We spent 5 days looking at 18 properties in Idaho & Montana and found this gem.

Besides the 2 stories you can see, theres also a basement.

We were looking to downsize but its bigger than the place we currently have.

Here is the garage.

From the road.

Property has 20 acres.

Wishing well & that odd shaped thing is an underground bunker.

I'll probably use it as a fruit cellar.

What I love.

Its a shared entryway with the neighbors and we haven't met them yet but one of their friends seemed like a great lady so we might just end up liking them a lot.

This is the barn. Its small & far from airtight but the inside can be reconfigured to hold Wifi & Joey.

The shop. Couldn't see inside but its large.

Another shed, hay storage?

Wrap around porch with the 2 long sides covered.

The garage has a food storage area built inside it.

We couldn't see inside the building on the right but theres a pipe with water coming out if it so we're thinking a spring. It drains into a half buried water trough that's under the lean too,

The fences are mostly all down around the 5 ish acre front pasture but I kow a guy who does beautiful fences. Most of the 20 acres goes out the back into the woods on the hill. Theres an old forest service? easement? road that winds around through the back. We need to find out if its got public access of what.

The electricity wasn't turned on so there were no lights & no water. When we go back for the inspection we'll take a genny & get all that up & running, at least for a bit.

One Year Review: Stable Comfort Stall Matts

We've been using the Stable Comfort stall matts for about a year now & it's time for a review.

I originally had Joey & Mack on them, Joey is  TB gelding weighing about 1150 and Mack is a huge Appy gelding weighing about 1250. The matts held up to their weight FINE but Mack was terrible on the stalls. He broke the dividing wall between the stalls, chewed the doors and demolished the runs. It was easier for ME to keep him in the arena at night.

But then he would whinny at all hours if the others went out to the runs & he couldn't see them so Joey went into the arena with him.

Now its just Wifi (900 lbs) in one of the stalls & I use the other one for hay.

Here is her stall. Its standing up GREAT to the use. Shes in it for about 12 hrs every night and currently we have the run door closed (due to the gutter leaf protector being down from snow). In the mornings I always let her out first so shes much less likely to pee in it.

This is the stall right after I cleaned her poop & stripped it of shavings. I still have to use 

EXACTLY THE SAME AMOUNT OF SHAVINGS 

that I ever used before to absorb her pee but I don't have to put in enough to make it soft. But I NEVER DID bed to make them soft because they have the attached runs to go outside.

Here is the front door area and its holding up well. No matter who the horse is, they bang their front hoof on this rail as they walk out but all horses are lazy. The stall fronts we used have a metal bar across each door to hold them rigid and strong and they are the perfect height for the matts.

This is the section just to the right of the above door, under the water buckets. When we installed it the wood on the wall was rotten so Lan used the wood strip to help. It I were to replace that wall wood right there we wouldn't need to use the strip along the floor.

The robber matt top is holding up quite well. There aren't any holes or indications of them at all. They hold all the pee just fine. The pee does puddle and its a bit harder to clean up compared to a flat stall with regular matts where the pee would go underneath when I use regular shavings.

The ONLY PROBLEM I have is 

that Wifi's shedding hair sticks to the rubber matt and won't sweep off very easily. I sweep my stalls every day so there is no dirt/sand/hair where their hay falls out of the hay nets. This hair just wants to stay on it.

But this is a problem that doesn't bother me too much since horses will eat hair as they groom each other. 

I Rode

I need to spend more time doing this.

Wifi had a halo that day.

Gus trying on his new driving harness. The surcingle was much to small and the back strap (?) was much too long. This is its shortest & it went way over his butt, supposed to sit up on his hips. 

He was wonderful, just stood there & let me put this contraption all over him, he didn't mind. I need a hot poker to make more, shorter holes and I need someone to show me where everything goes & what its for. I'm sure this cheap harness isn't complete & its already proven that its not sized correctly. 

He is now letting me pick his hooves up & clean them, doesn't try to kick or anything. Gary should be impressed with this next week when he comes to do hooves.

Halterless gus

Gus without his halter loose in the arena for the first time since April 4th.

He's got a handsome face.

Now that Shadow/Laddie is gone, Gus really loves to play with his treat ball.

Lan has the outside runs just about finished. The electric rope is up, tape along the tops but there needs to be a bit more rope inside.

This was as he was taking down the old wooden fence.

Another view

And with it getting cleaned up and mowed. The pile of sand is buckshot, it will be the top finish in the runs. We need another 6 trailer loads, about 36 tons.

This is out back, there's still a lot to do out there too

Farrier

Gary came out today to trim & shoe horses

This is Mack's hoof

Joeys hoof 

Another of Joeys hooves 

And Gary met Gus for the first time; Gus was not impressed with Gary but handled this experience OK. His hooves have been trimmed before but it was by the veterinarian, he might have been on drugs. 

Gus is so little 

I'm sure Garys back got sore 

Gus pulled back a few times but once he got to the fence he had to stop. His head was under the shelf but he didn't bump it at all. 

Gary let Gus act up a bit but brought him back around each time 

It harder to do mini's than big horses 

And its super cute to watch 

Here is Gus's hoof inside Joey's shoe 

Hay, Up Here

Wifi, look up.

HI!

Hay, Mack, up here!!  Look up!

Grooming Stall

Today I groomed all the big horses in the grooming stall for the first time. Wifi first and forgot to take her photo. Then Joey, my handsome boy. I had their halters on each other wrong so this one was snug on him. 

Wifi wasn't impressed with her grooming since I always comb her tail and mane and they were snarled. I can't wait till there is water so I can bathe her, get that beautiful tail all nice and clean again. 

I groomed Mack too because he needed it and he was a very good boy. I don't like to give treats by hand but he was so good that I did, then Wifi got one too. Joey was already heading out to roll when I got the treats out. Mack already looks SO MUCH better than he did when he first got here.

All 3 of these big horses didn't shed as much as one little mini did. Gus left another pony in the stall. 

Both the mini's took treats out of my hand today, stood there and ate them, then took another. They are coming around.

About 9 months ago I leased Sunshower to a gal, she wanted her for herself  and the kids to ride. I agreed because she had just bought her property next door to my friend who has TONS of horse experience and I knew Sunshower would be OK there. But after living there for only 10 months, the gal has bought horse property in Tacoma and wants to take Sunshower there. 

I told her I want to see the property before I agree to it and she DEFIANTELY has to sign a lease agreement, since she didn't do it already.

I do not want Sunshower to go.

I miss her and she's my good riding horse, I don't know what the fuck I was thinking when I agreed to lease her out. All last year I had no one to ride because Joey is retired and Wifi had that back injury. This year Wifi is better and she looks FANTASTIC now but she's never been on trails and she wont ride through mud so I'd be stuck if she had a fit out on trails.

So what to do?

Lan said he doesn't want her back because he didn't build this barn for me to fill it with our own horses. I could bring her home if I got rid of the mini's. I wouldn't need to keep a mini if she were back here because I could take one horse to ride somewhere and Joey would still have the other girl with him.

Fun Trip

Flew into Denver on March 5th

Spent time with my brother, sister in law, niece and nephew in law

Then Lan & I drove to Steamboat Springs

Along the way we stopped in this small town, Walden. I fell in love with the place, so cute.

At Steamboat, here is a list of the lift tickets for that day: 

Lan knows the director of the Steamboat Springs Ski School so his equipment rental and lift ticket were only $30. It was an incredible deal.

And he had a beautiful day to ski

We went out for Mexican that night, first time I'd seem a stuffed cow

Steamboat at night

This was pretty

Howelsen Hill Jumps

When we got up that morning it was 9* but warmed up quickly to 14* by the time I was out walking around town. The sunshine made a huge difference and it wasn't wet out so felt a lot warmer.

On Lans birthday we got up and headed out of town, south toward Gunnison. 

Went through gorgeous mountains with a foot of snow 

and dry, desert areas like this.

We met up with my other niece Andrea, and her son Soren in Hotchkiss for lunch. Soren is 6 years old and this was the 1st time we'd ever met. Hugging him felt so good and I fell instantly in love with this little man.

He must look like his dad because he doesn't look like our family.

We got to Gunnison & after dropping off our bags we headed up to Crested Butte Ski Resort. Found Lans friend, US Marshal Pete and we all had dinner together.

This is the BEST pizza in the history of the world.

Walked around the town for a while

And headed back to the Wanderlust Hostel in Gunnison. We had a private room but its beside the bathroom so we had to hear people going pee all night and there were 3 showers all before 6:30am. 

For what we paid (that's a story for another day) it was worth it.

Lan and I have been looking for another place to live, everywhere we go we check things out. Pete turned us on to this small town, Saguache, Colorado, Pronounced 'sə wäch'

Population 488 in 2016

We drove up & down all the streets, found a couple locals arguing.

Went to a realtors office & asked if we could see a couple properties, 2 were in town and one 12 miles out of town.

The two in town were just houses, one small with a small garage and a large shed, the other a 3 story Victorian build in 1870 and made into 5 apartments. It needed a lot of work and who knows what was underneath the vinyl siding but with a foundation of rock & mortar I wasn't too thrilled.

So we saw this house and we both like it, a lot. 

41 acres of scrub brush, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, off grid with propane and solar generator. It seemed to be all fenced with barbed wire and there was a gate at the dirt road.

That window up there, had this view:

Saguache means SAND DUNES in the Ute language and the Sand Dunes are in the distance, just before those mountains.

Saguache is the gateway to the San Juan Mountains, home to the Rio Grande National Forest and the La Garita Wilderness Area

Other views from the yard

This is the hill behind the house. I wish the house were up on top for 360* views.

There is no garage for Lan, no barn for my horses, no safe fencing to keep our dogs home. There are all sorts of wild animals.

Average temps

Population 

Plot map

satellite map

Anyway, we're thinking about moving there...