...My Bad

I woke up today the pressure of 35 pounds of Sheltie standing on my lower back making odd squeaking noises, poodles curled in the crook of my shoulder and on my head. All was right in the world.
The sun was starting to peek over the horizon, and I was getting my game plan in order: What to work on with each horse, who to work first, remember to bring the carrots for Tilly.

After all, it was only a partly cloudy day. The play of sunlight on the fresh snow was energizing. Who cares that it's ten above out side? Scott and bacon did their morning laps through the snow (until Bacon got an iceball in his toes and had to call a timeout) while Tempi rushed out, took care of business, then hurried back to my nice warm recently vacated bed. She has her priorities.

The School House at Dawn

Mocha brewed, I hopped into the truck (which had been conveniently parked in the barn, so I didn't even have to sweep the snow/ ice off of it) and slowly made my way towards the barn. The roads were covered with a thin layer of snow, so I opted to take the back route to the barn and avoid the hill near town. Why take the trickier route? I reasoned.

Why indeed.

As I turned on my new found 'easy route', I noticed that there was no snow. I could see the blacktop. Right decision I smugly thought to myself, easing up to a whopping 35 mph. That's right. I was flying.

Two more turns and then I'll be there.  Already I was going over my plan of attack for this morning.
Make the first turn. No traffic makes the drive easy and fairly stress free...

I'm going maybe 15 mph (hey, I just made the turn and no one was around to judge me for how slow I was going) when I feel the rear of my poor truck slide. I tried to correct it (Turn in to the slide, don't stomp the brakes) but I slid right on to what must have been the slickest patch of road in America.
Me and my truck did the worlds slowest triple lutz ever completed on ice.  We were moving slow enough that I thought that I'd come to a complete stop as soon as I ricochet off the little snow lip, an then I'd just have a good story for the rest of my day.

Obviously I underestimated the momentum of a 5000 pound vehicle on ice....

So glad dad isn't here to give me crap....

At least the front tires are still on the road!

But now the truck won't start up again, since it turned itself off in the 'crash'. Ok, ok... think! There's a fuel shutoff somewhere! That must be it. Now all I have to do is find the switch... to the owner's manual I go!
OK, found the page. With a picture. But I still cant find the switch....
Right about here, a nice older gentleman stopped and asked if I needed help. Umm, yes. He gave me the number of a towing company and told me to mention his name (you guessed it, Dan).
Perfect! I'll ask the wrecker where the switch is!

Turns out, I forgot to take the truck out of gear...
The wrecker guy (also named Dan. I wish I could be making this up!) gave me the most pitying look when he told me that the truck has to be in Park to start it. Thank goodness I didn't tell him I'm employed as an engineer...Pretty sure UMR is on their way to collect that degree from me, as I exhibited exactly zero engineering or mechanical know-how. Useless...

So I paid my $60 "Driving like a dipshit" tax, and was on my way!

I guess it wasn't quite the beautiful morning I expected.....

Oy vey.

Lost in the New Year

So it's a new year, and a painfully long time since my last post. I'll try to be better about it, but no promises. It's not my new years resolution or anything...
Anyway, as I am sure everyone already knows, I graduated in December (yay) without a job, or offer (not so yay) so I'm back in Katy doing my thing, whatever that is, as the search continues. So far I have made more progress with the ponies then I have with the job hunt, but I'm still optimistic.
Anyway, after a 24 hour drive from MO to Katy, there are now 6 horses at the modest family farm. The introduction has been complicated, so say the least. Day 1, for instance resulted in a broken fence and my boys losing pasture privileges. What happened was that we unloaded two bright and happy boys, fed and watered them, then turned them out in the small paddock (there is only one on our property). They rolled and everything was peachy. Then we turned out the young horses, to see how they would take the new comers. Both Deli and Sonnet (not the Sonnet on which I logged frequent flyer miles) trotted over, touched noses then decided that it was not interesting. This lack of a reaction lulled everyone present (all of whom were operating on not enough sleep) into a false sense of security. So AT and Opie were turned out. Then everything went wrong. I'm not quite sure what happened, but there were swirling horses on the fence line which resulted in London rearing, slipping and falling with one leg over the fence. I only witnessed the last of it. London's front right leg was stuck over the fence, tangled in a (thankfully) non-charged electric fence wire. He was sort of sitting on his butt, trying to keep the pressure off his leg over the fence. between me and my parents, we all ran out to the paddock to shoo away the offending horses (*cough*AT*cough*) and try to rescue London before he hurt himself more. Thankfully, London just stood like an angel while we were monkeying with his leg, trying to figure out a way to get it back on the correct side of the fence, while causing minimum damage to the horse and fence. In the end, as we were about the saw through the fence, London reared again, freeing himself. Surprisingly, he was sound as could be the next day, and hasn't taken a lame step since. Silly horses....

Other incidents have been less extreme, usually resulting in RC getting kicked by Deli or Sonnet. Now we keep London and RC away from AT. it has worked out well if AT and Opie are in the paddock while London, RC and the fillies are out in the big field. Live and learn, right?


What else has happened... Well, I went to the my first Katy Cowgirls practice in 5 years. I wasn't going to ride in it, but I trailered Opie and RC to the Katy Arena for Sam and H (even though H's mom stopped by the barn as I was loading horses to say that her daughter didn't need to borrow Opie any more. Nice timing. Thanks). I brought Opie anyway, just in case. Turns out I filled a spot for some absent girl and Sam had a great time on RC. When he was out there, he looked MASSIVE compared to all the little quarter horses and barrel horses. I don't consider him to be a big horse, but I suppose he is. And Opie only bucked once, with no kicks or bites (Told you it could be done!). I love that little horse...


See the pict? Living proof that Opie has probably the most flag experience of any horse I've ever known. That picture is circa 2000, after at least two years of experience with her.
Anyway, it's supposed to be nearly 60 degrees tomorrow and sunny before a few days of rain, so it's my last chance to get ready for a few lessons from MD here in Katy! I wish I had a little more time to prepare... But what can you do, right?
Keep posted! I'm going to try to keep updating, and post pictures and all that jazz.