Rain Rain Go Away



It has been raining nonstop for going on two weeks now.  It is really affecting what we can do with the horses.  Artemis loves to come into the barn away from the rain, but she gets really cranky when you take her out.  Their pens are just mud for as far as you can see.  Jimmy and Eli think that standing at the very end of their muddy pen (which is ten times worse than Socks and Artemis') and watching their owners attempt to get to them without being sucked into the ground is the best thing ever.  On the few minutes we get where it's not pouring, Jimmy has been going his desensitization training and Socks is starting to be ridden again.  First though, I want to give an update on the horses up at my dads. 

There is Fonda and his son and Artemis' halfbrother, Hades.  Hades is just a little bigger than Artemis, and he's much darker than his sister.  He's more friendly, but he doesn't lead or pick up his feet.  He's had more people just hang out with him while Artemis has had more trianing.  We did lead him for the first time, and he did pretty well.  Lifting his feet was another story, he is not a fan of that.  My dad's favourite horse of the month is Fonda, so Fonda has been ridden a lot.  His respect issues are slowly getting better, but he's still not my favourite horse.  We had to bathe Pawnee and take out his stitches.  The stitches holding his skin together ripped out, but none of us were surprised.  The vet didn't think she would be able to stitch that closed in the first place.  However, the stitches holding his muscle together held and I had to take those out.  I never want to do it again.  Pawnee was amazing for it, but it was pretty gross.  I never want to be a vet.

On Friday night my dad and I went for a ride, I was on Thor and my dad was on Fonda.  It was raining all around except for where we lived.  We went over to the neighbour's fields.  Just as we turned around to go home it started to rain on us.  We were riding in the trees right beside a meadow when suddenly we couldn't see anything.  Lightning had streaked right above us and everything went white.  The light wasn't gone before the thunder boomed and terrified me and the horses.  Thor tried to run but quickly realized he didn't have anywhere to run to.  It was terrifying and that was as close as I ever want to be.

Saturday as a really late birthday present, my dad bought me a new saddle!  It actually fits Socks, which is not an easy task, so there was no way we were going to pass it up.  It's much lighter than the other saddle I was using, I can actually lift it.  That night I tried it out on Sev.  The ride was fine until three dogs at a campsite came barking and snarling at us.  Fonda and Sev spooked badly but did eventually calm down. 

Here is a picture of Cas, Maggie and Molly, our landlord's two mares.  Molly, the mare on the right, is pregnant and is huge.  Maggie sadly had a stillborn foal.  We had to try to do Maggie's feet.  Our landlord's bought the two mares from a man who didn't believe in doing horse's feet, so not only where her feet horrible but she's not good with them, at all.  We can't find a farrier willing to do them.  It was...an adventure, let's just say that.


On Sunday my dad finally came to meet Artemis for the first time.  He was impressed with her, he thought she was adorable when she was racing Socks in the arena.  However, since then it's been raining steady so we've only been out once so far to brush them and work with Jimmy in the roundpen briefly.  I really hope it stops raining soon, I am dying to be able to ride outside.