Tuesday, September 9, 2008

This 'n That

Déjà Vu
Awhile back -- August 21, to be precise -- I posted a recipe for pinto beans. At the end of the recipe, I told of our favorite way to use the last of the beans -- fried burritos. This was a BIG pot of beans, so we froze some. We thawed them back out on Sunday and gorged ourselves on ... you guessed it.
Oh yeah! Taste so good they'll make ya slap yer granny!
Mother Nature Delivers at Last
We spread almost 700 lbs. of rye grass, oats and fertilizer 2 weeks ago tomorrow. At the time, Gustav was supposed to grace us with rain, but that never happened. We finally got some rain today and have a fairly decent chance of getting some more in the next couple of days (unrelated to Ike yet). Hallefrikkenlujah! I'm anxious to see what ends up sprouting, because this place has been a veritable sea of crows feasting on all that seed.


Ponies
The Boyz are at Heather's, together in a long pen between the stallion, O (Harley's Classic O), and the fence to the main pasture. This is a great place for them. Several of the mares are in season, and I have to laugh at them pressing their butts up to the fence, peddling their wares. Boy, are they ever barking up the wrong tree! Still, I think the geldings appreciate the gesture. Poco sure enjoys getting O all spun up. O flies at the fence and Poco turns his back and throws a few aerobatic kicks in his general direction. Meanwhile Jaz likes to nicker at the GURLZ, who all think he's pretty cute.

Last two times I was up there, I worked with Poco on the ground. He's usually pretty good on a lead, but lately he's been a little sloppy, crowding me. I saw Clinton Anderson on TV on Saturday working the rudest, most disrespectful horse -- an Arabian -- I've ever seen. I may be a rank amateur, but even I would never have tolerated that animal's lack of manners and respect. He literally lifted his owner up off the ground (at the end of the lead rope) and flung her! Anyhoo, I watched what Clinton did using just a stick, and decided to try it on Pokey. I worked with him about 15-20 minutes one day, then a day or two later, I did it again after I rode him (bareback). The object was to get him to walk beside and slightly behind me on a loose lead (I hope to be able to do it off lead someday), stopping when I stop, backing up when I back up -- mirroring my movements without me directing him. The trick with Pokey is just getting and keeping his attention. I must say, after watching Clinton do it, the whole concept of the stick as an extension of my arm finally sunk in. We did really well, especially the second day. I slid off him in the round pen and we did it a little in there, then a little on the walk back up to his pen. I love it when it works!

Baby Love
Who doesn't love foals? And especially, who can resist baby Appy foals? Even if you're not an Appy fan, how can you resist those speckledy little knuckleheads? Heather's got a pen full! She tried to see if my Boyz would be babysitters, but that didn't work out so well. Although they enjoy playing with the babies through the fence, and didn't try to harm them, my piggies wanted all the food. The two OTTBs are the babysitters, and they take their job seriously, let me tell you! There are a couple of the weanlings that show promise, but one has really caught my eye. His name is Crash (Little Red Corvette) and the more I see this little guy, the more I like him. His mama is a blood bay Arabian named Lira, and his sire is Heather's fewspot Appy stallion. This lucky guy definitely got the very best of each parent. He's got the prettiest little baby doll head, long, lovely legs, that rich blood bay coloring, (all from Lira), plus Spot's gorgeous hip & shoulder, and the most perfect butt blanket you've ever seen. I can't handle another one, but it's nice to dream. I'll ask Heather if I can post his photo.

When I was driving up there the other day, I made myself laugh out loud in the car. I was thinking about Crash and thinking about my horses as cars. Jaz is like your basic Toyota Corolla -- super dependable, nothing flashy, get you where you need to go. Poco is my full size, decadent gas-guzzling Hummer. Think about it: if your horse were a car, what kind would he/she be? Bet you make yourself laugh!

I leave you with his photo, taken Monday morning in McKinney, Texas.
Hasta la vista!

8 comments:

RoSe said...

..from burritos to the texas sunrise photo, I loved reading every word of it. And I'm not even a horse person.
Thanks for posting.

cdncowgirl said...

Okay okay okay.... I haven't read today's post. I'm still catching up from when I thought you stopped posting in June. lmao
Just wanted to say I just finished July and a HUGE Thank You!! (for the award)
I will put it up ASAP and then come back and read some more.

man I feel like SUCH a dumbass! lol

LatigoLiz said...

Taste so good they’ll make ya slap yer granny!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Chelsi said...

That little colt sounds really cute. It would be cool to see a pick.

I think it is funny to watch mares flirt with geldings. My mare is such a little hussy, she drives the geldings crazy!

Good luck on your grass. It is like watching the proverbial water boil? Maybe you are watching it to much:)

I will put up a link on my "I own a stick". I dont use my stick anymore except for maybe once a month to freshen things up. I can set my gelding 15, 10, 5 or 2 feet back and have him stay where I put him, stop when I stop etc. The next challenge is to get them to walk a head of you (you stand at the girth line) and do the same thing. Now THAT is hard. I figured out that there is a HUGE difference between leading your horse and sending him forward in front of you. Here is the link (there are two parts.)

Part 1-
http://crazyhorsewoman.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-own-stick.html

Part 2-
http://crazyhorsewoman.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-own-stick-contd.html

Those barritos look de-lish!

Tuffy Horse said...

Thanks so much for the award Leah! I love winning awards! Means more carrots for me!

And to return the favor go to the front of my page, scroll down the right side and pick up your Golden Horseshoe Award!


Tuffy Horse

Anonymous said...

I love this post! But now i crave a burrito. I really like Clinton Anderson's work with horses; i know the methods he uses helps me communicate with my Okie.

cdncowgirl said...

*does a little dance*
I'm all caught up!!

Horses as cars:
well Quinn is gone now but if he were still mean I'd call him a Harley (okay not a car but still...) he was an awesome ride but so not dependable.
Cessa in her day was definitely a high end sports car. Cool to ride, speedy but didn't have the easiest handle.
Applejack. Hmmm. The only car I've personally driven that I would compare him to is a Honda CRX. The low gears aren't that much fun. But once you hit those higher gears, woo hoo! (of course he's a different horse for Pie)

Mrs. Mom said...

LOL if Sonny was a car, he would be in the shop. Often! ;)

He thinks he is a sports car, but he looks more like a truck. Just right now, a banged up truck!

Loved the post- the sunrises were beautiful!

Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin