Foxes, horses stuff, and GOLIATH!!!

Hello all,
There's lots to show & tell you so lets get right to it!
The horses are all very happy to be on grass again.  The boys didn't want to come back so Carla had to chase them down the hill...

We've had lots of wildlife around this year, the usual deer, ducks, herons, etc.  We also hosted a swallowtail convention.  Most exciting of all is that the gray foxes are back and they have babies!  I haven't been able to get a photo of the kits, Rebecca M managed to get a shot of some of the kits returning to the den but it's not very clear so I didn't include it here.

We had quite an exciting time when the farriers were here last month.  We had Ketu and Becca in the crossties, and all of a sudden they started to act very nervous and were looking behind the barn on the hill.  We all looked outside and there was an oreo cow!  (A Belted Galloway for those who want to be more precise.)  Ketu broke the crossties and ran away - such a brave boy!  I quickly untied Becca and put her in a stall in the other barn.  Chad went out to see if he could herd the cow down into one of the runs but he came right back and said "that's not a cow...  it's a BULL!!!  Alrighty then....  So Carla and I knew where it most likely came from, we tried to call but their phone number wasn't listed so she hopped in her car and went to look for them.  She was headed back here and met Steve and his wife on the road so she stopped and asked if they were missing a bull.  They said YES, and followed her back to our barn.  We herded the bull - named Goliath - down into Ketu's stall and shut him in while they went to get their trailer.  He was actually quite sweet, just a little guy, liked to have his head rubbed and petted.  He loaded easily onto the trailer and is quite happily out grazing with his cows now.  From the reaction of our horses, you'd think he was a giant horse eating monster - silly horses...

Heather was here last month to do teeth and sheaths.  Cami, Tapper, and Ivan had their teeth done and all the boys had their sheaths cleaned.  Cami needed extra drugs, she just really doesn't like the vet.  Ketu and Jazz were a bit difficult, but we got them all done for this year!

Cami is looking great!  You can see for yourselves in the photo below. 

As I mentioned, Rebecca M has been around quite a bit.  Carla has had her working with Ketu a few days a week to get him in shape and remind him that he has a job to do.  He's doing very well, is probably in the best shape of all the horses and is feeling just fine!  Rebecca also rode Ivan a couple of times - she REALLY likes him and will hopefully come ride him some more.  Carla has also been riding him quite often.  We've had a lot of rain lately, so we are riding when we can.  We usually manage at least 3 days a week but with 5 horses needing exercise it's really not enough.  Hopefully the rain will stop sometime soon.  We were able to meet up with Jean and Badger one day and had a very nice ride.

Last but not least, I finally have a Shady update.  Shady is loving her new home and they are loving her.  She is being used as a lesson horse (jumping) for the more advanced riders, she's a bit too much of a spitfire for the beginners.  She went to her first show last month, and this is what her new owner Coby had to say about it.
      "Shady was AMAZING! She was better at the show than at home, she loved it! This wasn't a small schooling show, it was a big rated hunter/jumper show with fancy, fancy horses! She took 5th in a hunter class (over fences) that had about 12 riders in it, and then her jumper class (speed and athleticism over fences), she would have won it (out of 15), but her rider accidentally left before the buzzer in her jump off round so was disqualified from it, despite having the fastest time and no rails down. She still pulled off a 5th in that one despite that issue!! Those were the only 2 classes we put her in." 

These photos are from her practicing at her stable, I don't have photos from the actual show unfortunately.  She has another show coming up this month, I'll let you know how it goes.

Echo

1998 – December 31^st, 2011

Echo became part of my life in 1999.  At the time I had Sadie (a beagle) and Loki (a Shepard mix).  I heard that they had another Shepard mix at the shelter so Loki and I went up to meet her.  We waited in the “getting acquainted” room and the shelter manager brought in the new dog.  She and Loki did NOT hit it off.  They didn’t fight, but it was obvious that they were not going to be friends and it was not going to work.  The manager said she had another dog she thought I should look at so she took the Shepard away and came back with a VERY dirty brown dog.  She and Loki bonded immediately, one look (and sniff) and they were best buds.  Then she came over to me, climbed up on my lap and started licking me.  I later learned that she had the fastest tongue in the east and she’d French you if you didn’t watch out!  I was told she was a Keeshond mix, about a year old, who had been picked up as a stray and not claimed.  Loki and I were sold.  I asked if we could take her home with us right then, and since I had adopted from them before they agreed.  After the paperwork was finished and we were ready to leave, the manager gave me a little more of the story.  It seems that the dog was terrified of people, hid in the back of her kennel run whenever anyone came near, and they suspected she had been mistreated (ya-think!) 

The first order of business when we got home was an introduction to Sadie.  Once again, the bond was instant and they were friends forever.  Next up was a bath.  Did I mention she was filthy?  After a double wash and rinse cycle, she turned out to be a gorgeous shiny black – not brown at all!  After some deliberation, I named her Echo.  She was a love bug, snuggling and cuddling whenever she could, and loving to play with Loki and Sadie.  Everything was great until… company came!  She was terrified of everyone!  She’d hide in another room and tremble when anyone else was here, but had an especially difficult time with men or more than one person at a time.  Over many years, she became friendlier with most women, loved kids, but with only a couple of exceptions, she never trusted men.

Echo saw several dogs come and go during her life here; the 2 she’s been with most recently are Rosy, who is almost 7 now and has been with Echo since she came at 7 weeks old, and Joey, who is 4 years old and has lived here just over a year.  There are so many Echo stories to tell that I could write a book, but let me just tell you a few more things about her.  When she was 5 or 6 years old she needed x-rays for a lung infection.  Aside from perfectly healthy lungs, what showed up on the x-rays was shot, bird shot probably, all through her body.  Apparently she had been shot at least twice, maybe more times, when she was just a puppy!  Now I understood why she was so afraid of gunshots and loud noises, and had such trust issues – poor baby!  It seems a miracle that after all she had been through she could still be such a loving and happy dog.  When I first got her, my vet’s had written on her chart “shy, but nice”.  After a few years, they crossed out the “shy” part!  She was clever, and could be very sneaky.  When the other dogs had a treat she wanted, she’d go to the window and bark like someone was here.  As soon as the others left their treat to check out the window she’d run back and grab it, then take it out back to bury it for later!  She was definitely a character, and brought a lot of love, light and joy to my home.  Rosy and Joey are both still waiting and looking for her to come home, and there is a big hole here now that she’s gone.