Nope To HGTV

We decided to not use the HGTV lady to sell our home & not have it on the show. She was too pushy and didn't know enough about equestrian properties. She had zero interest in the Comfort Stall matts, didn't care about the quality of the stalls nor the barn itself. She looked at it but didn't 'care' about it. I want someone to sell my farm that loves it for what its worth and brings a buyer that will also love it for what it is, an equestrians dream.

Today I had an appointment in Woodinville for the deposition for the accident that happened 5 days after IMAZ when I was in the back seat of the car, an innocent passenger. We spent ALL DAY getting to & back from Woodinville & the fucking attorneys didn't have any record of my appointment. FUCKERS. This is the second time they have screwed up; last time was March 29th & they called me while I was in Idaho & said the attorneys were all there waiting for me to show up. The letter they sent me said MAY 29TH and when I got home I found it & called them back. Fuckers didn't even apologize for screwing up. If there is another screwup of any kind, I'm going to get another lawyer & if they try to make me pay them 1 red cent, I'll sue them for being incompetent. Fucking idiots.

The kitchen tile work is all finished, now we're finishing installing the plug ins & dimmer switch. We still have the hood fan to install too and then it will be finished.

Since my niece is here there have been a few changes. Shes got the cool room with the nice barn door closet. Now her son, my great-nephew, is coming soon too. She hasn't done a damn thing for him, she thought he would just sleep in her room with her in her bed. But hes 7.5 years old & boys that big don't sleep with their moms, they need privacy and a place of their own to play. She hasn't gotten him any toys nor bought him any new clothes. She seems to think his dad is going to bring ALL his toys & clothes here with them in an electric car with the step mom & step sister but I am thinking he going to have a grocery bag of dirty clothes & thats it.

I found this free captains bed & went & picked it up, then last night Lan & I put it together. He had to fix a bent nail & glue a broken piece of wood. I also had to go pick up the mattress. I spemt $287 on Spider Man sheets & a blanket, plus another blanket, Spidey beach towel and several more shirts & pants. I'm got about 10 toys for him, a few cars & trucks, some legos, a couple other things.

He needs a lamp, a toy box, more toys, new undies and I NEED to remove that window blind & find something different. Kids & blinds with strings don't go together.

I'm trying to make arrangements for him to go to a week of summer day camp. My friend Tina has a horse day camp for kids & that might be fun for him. 

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 rode, but only for a few minutes, on Mack. 

Then 3 days ago I got an injection in my foot, into the Plantar Fibroma.

In the 1st photo the bright white dot is the middle of it, all the darkness is the lump.

I was given a lidocaine shot to numb my foot, that went into the back of my ankle and it took about 4 minutes of him poking the needle around into the proper spots.

 I spent 12 minutes massaging the medicine into the area.

Here is a raw shot of the needle inside my foot. It began at a size 6.2mm in size, the previous biggest it got was 4.9mm. 

Here is an 'enhancement' of the same photo.

It was mostly numbed but once in a while he would hit a nerve & it would feel like my foot had a hot poker on the heel.

This part of the procedure lasted about 8-10 minutes.

Afterward I put on my boot and came home. I had to borrow crutches from Mora and she also gave me a Lidocaine gel patch. I cut it down to three 2"x3" pieces and put 1 onto the bottom on my foot. They last 12 hours. The 3rd is on now and I'm sure it has helped a LOT.

I used the crutches for 2 days, today is the 3rd day & I'm able to walk without them but still in the boot. 

All this foot lump tumor BULLSHIT has a name, I'll go into more detail at a later date.

HORSEY NEWS:

I was too cheap to order harness pads for $10 online so I paid $30 and made my own.

At least I used a color I like.

I'll get photos of them actually ON Gus later.

Gary is coming out to trim horses tomorrow.

Then and Now

Hay Loft

If you walk in to our barn and look up, this is what you see.

If you walk to the other end, climb the ladder and look, this is what you see.

If you go into the arena and look up, this is the view. We have about 8 tons of hay in the barn, with another 1.5 coming later.

I love that I can literally feed all the hay to the horses that I want to feed them & have NO FEAR of running out and having to get more. There is enough hay to last until Mid May and that's if I feed an entire bale every day between now & then.

But the horses aren't eating that much.

Last night something got & killed 2 of the quail so I opened the door & released them today. Two left, 1 male & 1 female. The lame quail stayed behind with the lame chicken. I'll keep them safe.

Haaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

There is just such a satisfying feeling know you're going to have enough hay for the entire winter well before winter sets in. Our second load, alfalfa/grass mix, 

all from the same grower in Naches, Washington.

We pay $8.25 per bale plus $1 per bale for fuel. We leave home at 8am & get home at about 5pm. About 300 miles round trip.

There will be 1 final trip next weekend for a total of about 250 total bales.  I've already been feeding it, have no idea how many bales but if I have 220 left and feed 1 per day, I'll have enough hay to last until May 7 of next year. That's plenty of hay.

Finished Halters

I got the www.haltertags.com name plates in the mail, couldn't wait to get them onto the halters. 

Definitely need to oil the halters too.

Here is Gus with his new halter & doesn't he look SMASHING? 

Here is Joey

They spelled his name wrong, just like the guys in Kentucky did with his halter 20 years ago. 

I'm OK with it this time.

This halter was $5 at a barn sale & had RED on its old plate.

And Wifi.

She was more concerned about getting to her dinner than showing off her new halter plate.

I chose the Chicago Screws to attach them instead of rivets so that I can use them on other halters in the future. Wifi's halter is the crappy old one that wasn't stolen when my others were (and that's why I'm pretty fucking sure it was Sarah Goathouse who stole all my stuff).

I'd really like to get each of them new halters made of soft leather that's also strong, triple stitched, like the ones I had before. Maybe I need to make a trip to Kentucky to pick some up myself. I don't particularly care for the throatlatch snaps & all of these halters have them. They  more a grooming aid than anything else. I'd rather use the crownpiece to buckle it on and off than by slipping it over their ears and using the snap.

We've been putting Joey & Wifi in the stable comfort stalls every night and in the mornings both have looked like they aren't in pain. Wifi's shoulders/withers, where she took a tumble or something in spring 2017. Each horse also has their outside run available to them & sometimes they actually go out there to poop.

And this cart is for sale in Enumclaw, $250. Tuesday is my payday & I'm hoping the person who has it will sell it to me. I'm not even sure it will fit Gus but maybe, if it doesn't, it can be adjusted/altered.

In The Stalls

This hay elevator looks like a roller coaster

Also known as haylivator

This is inside Joeys stall this evening. He's got 2 buckets of fresh water, a big bag of hay and tomorrows hay hanging on his door. Lan said they will all eat through their doors but I don't think they will get much.

This is what it looks like outside his door. Wifi's hay is next door

And here is Gus's door with his grass hanging on it

A little electricity to lighten things up

Lan removed the heavy duty pallets, this is all the chafe from 4 years. There were 2 big dead rats and another live one. It was bright green alfalfa, not this nasty brown color.

Barn looks nice without the chicken coop in front

This was last week, I've put some of these items away and cleaned a few times since this was taken

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.

Gus Update

Gus amazes me sometimes. I wasn't too excited about teaching him to give me his hooves, didn't want to get kicked. But Laddie does it now for Stephanie so I thought, what the heck, I better get started. So I asked and he lifted. I can now lift all 4 and it was easy. 

He also stands in the cross ties like a pro.

He was still quite hairy here, I have since hand pulled most of that hair off.

Wifi and Gus grazing together, Gus has a muzzle to keep him from eating everything on earth.

He took to it like he's been doing it forever. 

Piggies

The horses are all fat, except Gus isn't, YET.

This is Joey, walking past the wood shed. It looks awful but its back there so its not in front of the house.

And WIFI, OMG! 

Mack is a huge horse so he carries his weight well.

And little Gussy, he still looks good.

In this photo he is chowing down on Wifi's alfalfa while she thinks shes getting the better deal with loose grass.