The stables I volunteer at has a weekend program where kids sign up to come in as part of a group, and then we show them how to groom a horse, walk to the arena, and lead them around on it, teach them to steer, and then the ones that are more confident can start riding around on their own (with someone walking beside them the whole way). So I did that for both morning and afternoon sessions today. It was so much fun! The kids are having such a great time, it’s fun to be involved in something like that. If only I’d had that kind of opportunity as a kid! But now as an adult I still have time to learn. I got to help groom and pick out hooves and lead the horse around. Learned to tack and un-tack, and learned to put a blanket back on the horse I was working with. So much fun! I felt a lot more confident after working with him all day (he was a very sweet and patient horse).

And I got a lot of walking around and around and around the arena – so that’s a little extra activity for my day as well. That was a pretty good way to spend the first part of my Saturday.

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I went to the horse ranch to volunteer today. Since it’s spring break, they had an unexpected group of kids show up and clean the stalls, so I got a pile of paperwork to enter in the office. That was fine by me, and I plowed through it in about two hours. I was getting ready to leave when a couple girls showed up and they asked them to catch and groom one of the horses they have there for evaluations, and asked if I’d like to help. So I said sure, and went with them. The horse was a bit restless, and I mostly stayed out of the way. So the volunteer coordinator came by to check on us and said ‘hey, want me to grab a pony for you to groom’, and I thought, gosh, I don’t want to be any trouble – but she said the ponies needed to be groomed too! So she went and got this adorable little pony and showed me where to get her brushes and I got to spend some quality time grooming her. She was more my size anyway 🙂 I’m not ashamed to let the teenage girls handle the big horse while I brush out a pony!

That was great fun, I can’t wait to go back. She said next time I can do some stalls. How silly is it to be excited about getting to scoop poo? Before I left I wandered by the arena and they had a class going on with some little girls racing around barrels (at a walk) and the winner would get to clean a stall! And then I heard one of the girls proudly tell the other one ‘I get to clean three stalls already!’ 🙂

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Yesterday I went to visit a local riding stables that specializes in riding programs for disadvantaged kids. They need volunteers, and I need to be around horses – so I think we can help each other out. They have a very nice facilities, and need help with both cleaning up and office stuff – I can shuffle papers as well as anyone 🙂 The people seem very nice. Luckily the rules we have to learn all made a lot of sense and were similar to the rules we already use in 4H to keep the kids safe around animals, so I should have no problem remembering them. She said though most of the adult volunteers have their own horses, she would welcome someone like me who really wants to learn about horses. I think my experience working with kids in 4H is helpful too.

I’m very excited, I get to go back tomorrow and work with one of the other volunteers to start learning the ropes to clean out the stalls. I think this is going to be a great way to get my horse ‘fix’ while doing something good for the community with my free time.

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I’m a long way from being able to afford a horse – maybe never at this rate! But I can still dream about it and plan how I might be able to make it work.

My main concern is our soggy pasture. There’s lots of good grazing for summer and fall, but it’s going to have to be protected through winter and much of the spring. So I’m thinking, how can I have a horse and keep them happy in a little square paddock all winter and spring? They’ll be bored stiff, and setting up a sacrifice area big enough for them to actually stretch their legs would eat up a lot of the pasture – and I want to protect as much as possible for summer. Plus I’ve heard about people spending tens of thousands of dollars trying to make a sacrifice area where the horses don’t have to stand in mud all day.

Then I read about Paddock Paradise – it’s a way of keeping horses where their paddock is actually a track that goes around the main field, protecting the grazing area, but giving the horses room to run a bit.

Here’s a lovely video of a lady calling her horses back to the shelter and making them go the long way around

CNY Paddock Paradise

And another one here in Western WA

Holly’s Paddock Paradise

The idea is to give your horse food in a couple areas (and putting the food in feeders that force them to eat slowly and work at it to help curb boredom), water in another, a scratching/rolling area, and have them spend their day going from one place to the other to get what they need, and get some exercise at the same time. Walking over different terrains is good for them too. I’m going to keep reading up on this idea (lord knows I have nothing but time to think about it), but I like it.

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We don’t always have a pond in our field, but last night there was a good rain, and this morning we not only had a pond – we had Ducks! They all were scooting around with their heads down looking for goodies. Well, we’re always happy to host the local wildlife!

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The training on the alpacas has slowed down quite a bit. Although Red got the hang of the clicker training, and seemed to understand his behavior was effecting how quickly he got his reward, the other two have been more of a problem. I have had issues with them invading my space, kicking at me when I enforce my space, and trying to hit me from behind, which is particularly scary. I don’t want to interact with them any more than necessary, because I would describe their behavior as pushy and spiteful – when corrected they look for ways to strike back. So we have switched from grain to straight hay, and I close them out of the paddock while I am cleaning and refilling feeders. My friend who runs the rescue is going to come over and check them out and see if their issue is with me (as in, they’ve decided I can be pushed around) or if they have a more serious problem from having been spoiled and not understanding that they need to give humans space. I am being very cautious around them, and I never take my eyes off them when I’m in their area.

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Since we were stuck at home because of the snow, and I couldn’t do any yard work, I decided to do a little work on the incubator. I have been wanting to test it out, but I can’t do that until I get new weatherstripping put on it, and I don’t want to do that until I get the front refinished. Last week I bought the sandpaper I’d need, and some stain, and today I sanded off the old finish, and put a new one on. Once that dried I applied a layer of sealer to it. I hope that comes out looking nice. I couldn’t get the hinges off without stripping screws, so I left them on and I’ll clean those up with the dremel. So far it looks much better.

When it’s dry I can put the weatherstripping on and take it for a test run, see if it holds it’s temp and humidity properly. If that all works, I see no reason not to put a few eggs in it and see how it goes.

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I friend sent me a link to a llama training guide online. The most eye opening thing was that the training is all positive, uses clickers (which I already knew was possible) and begins with ‘llama zen’ – the equivalent of ‘doggie zen’ which is a self control exercise we teach the dogs. I am going to start using some of these techniques to work with the alpacas and see if I can get any communication going on.  Getting some cooperation from them would make them a lot easier to live with.

dragonflyllama training manual

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The weather people have been talking about a snow storm coming all week. They were calling for 12 inches (which would be pretty unusual) but the latest report sounds like we’ll just get a dusting. Since there’s currently no sign of snow – or even rain – I took the opportunity to spend a bit of time photographing the pooches having their daily play session.

First off, a kestrel came and landed in the tree right by the yard where we were playing. This is the best shot I could get of him. They are lovely birds, and I’ve seen them munching on big grasshoppers and the like. Although they are predators, they are much too small to bother the chickens!

While I was at the bottom of the hill photographing the kestrel, the dog started getting rowdy, and since they were on top of the hill, I had a nice doggie-eye-level view to photograph their antics – without having to lay down on the grass 🙂

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This has been a weird year. I wouldn’t call it bad, because any year you make it out of healthy and kickin’ is a good year! But it did start out with losing our dear Airstream camping friend Darol to cancer. That sucked, I still miss him whenever I think about my Airstream. A couple months later Alki took a sudden turn and we had to let her go. We knew it was coming, and we were grateful she had managed to survive almost three years since her cancer diagnosis, but it was still pretty sad. We still had Barclay and Jack, both young and healthy.

It was a penny-pinching year, with slow sales at the store and online. We kept our belts tight and tried to be as frugal as possible. That’s not much fun, but what can you do? I got better at using cheap cuts of meat I found in the bargain section at the market, learned to make my own beef and chicken stock, and cooked a lot of meals at home. We cut our eating out down until it become a rare occasion, which actually made it more special when we did decide to go out.

My only resolution last year was to get to the top of Silver Star Mountain, but we couldn’t even afford the gas to drive up to the trailhead – so maybe next year!

We had sheep visiting in the spring, but they didn’t stay too long because of the rain. I made a little money at the beginning of the year selling chickens, and raised quite a few more through the year, yet I ended up buying eggs this winter because my old chickens were slowing down laying, and my young chickens weren’t ready to start yet. I got to see the first of the buff/blue chicks feather out and was amazed by their colors, and so I am focusing on making more of those. I also brought home a GIANT incubator I picked up for free on CL. Still haven’t decided what to do with that.

Later in the year we were convinced to adopt another little dog who needed a home, and Navi joined our family. Her mom had been trying to talk me into taking her, but it was Navi herself who clinched the deal, sitting next to me in the grass at the dog park and rolling her head backwards to look at me, upside down – what a crazy ball of fun! I knew she was meant to be, despite my reluctance.

I made my best effort yet to have a successful garden, but the weather didn’t cooperate, and everyone in the area agreed it was a lousy year. No tomatoes for us! Lots of lettuce though. Even though it turned out to be a bummer year for the garden, I did take a canning and food preservation class. I not only learned to can and dehydrate foods, but I got to help teach classes and answer the county food safety line to help other people with their food preservation questions. At home I canned pickles and green tomato salsa (yum) and fresh peaches and pears in season.

Dave did a number of theater shows, and starred in two shows back to back, one of which I was assistant director for. It was fun to get involved in theater again, but it was nice to end the commitment and get back to a normal life too – just in time for the Christmas toy rush!

Here is hoping for a better year to come, and a happy New Year to all!