Josh Nichol Clinic & Spring Has Sprung

The weather has turned fabulous here in SW Ontario.   Today was one of those days we have been dreaming about all winter.   Beautiful sunshine, light southwesterly breeze and temperatures hovering at +20C.   Really it couldn't have been much closer to perfect!

I realize it have been a long time between posts.   I apologize readers...I just have no viable excuses!  

So lets see what's happened since the last post...

#1 - I had another amazing clinic with the ever so talented Josh Nichol from Athabasca, Alberta.   This young horseman is one of the most talent individuals I have been lucky enough to train with.   I will never be able to give Josh the accolades he deserves for his work...the best way I can explain it is...He makes horsemanship part of his everyday life.   In a way that makes him a better husband, a better friend...a better human.   His principles can be applied anywhere in a persons life and by giving ourselves confidence and courage to make mistakes, to learn from those mistakes and take the judgment  and emotion out of our actions.    We must always know that we are what we get back and our horses hold up a mirror at times that makes us at times painfully aware of our own need to change.   Thank you Josh for being such a compassionate, thorough and dedicated facilitator.    You have given me more than I will ever be able repay you for.   This reminds me of the line...Angels...they walk among us.

The Cowboy himself...

Izzy and I during a session.

The JN Sassy Chicks

The spring weather has been hit or miss for the past 2 weeks.   Last Saturday we had a snow storm with -2C temps and this Saturday it's +20C!  All the odd jobs are starting to surface and become jobs that NEED to get done as time waits for no one!

I have taken down all the old fencing and insulators in pastures 4, 5 & 6.   The new insulators have been installed in 4 & 5 and the new fencing plan is starting to take shape in my mind so that I will be able to put pen to paper and draft up the new chuting system to make pasture management simplified.   My objective is to make a larger scale pasture access system similar to our old place.   I believe that access to the fields should be centralized to limit the amount of time required to do turnout and to decrease the long runs of water lines for automatic or bucket watering.   I don't believe in turnout in winter with no water so it's also important that all the watering areas have accessibility to power for heated troughs.   The new layout has 5 of the 6 pastures opening from one main holding area.   Pasture 6 will be gated as an alternate to 5 so the access chute will serve either of those 2 fields.   This will require moving some fence lines but for the pain we will have to endure to move them it will save a lot of walking and a lot of bucketing of water!

The lay of the land.   This is Pasture 3, 4 and 5 and the chute to 4.

We have made the decision to move our round pen to be part of pasture 6.   This area will be elevated, levelled and fenced and then Pasture 6 will be surrounding it and the outdoor sand ring.  

Speaking of which, DH has put all the sand in the outdoor and the footing is fantastic!!   After all the rain we have been able to ride in the ring the entire time.  Drainage is excellent and the loft is nearly perfect!    The sand needs another grooming with the leveller and harrows but when I rode on Friday after work I was filled with so much gratitude for all that I have had bestowed upon me.   Lovely horses, like minded friendships, an amazing husband, family/friends that have good health and all of it situated here...on our own little piece of land that we call Heaven on Earth!   Really I have so much...it's remarkable.

My Happy Places!

DH has been busy again.   Last weekend he cut all the pastures.   We ran out of good weather to cut the VERY long grass that was left from the fall. This weekend he is on the tractor over seeding the pastures he cut last weekend.   So far 2 down and 4 more to go.   We have decided to use a plug over seeder.   This weekend is working out to be perfect timing...if we have time to get them all finished before the rain on Monday!  

My Dad and Mom have been out on several occasions the last several days.   They have been delivering wood for next winter and the following winter.   Some local people to my Dad have had trees trimmed and the county has been trimming trees along the road; so my Dad has been cutting it up and bringing it to us.   Feeling very fortunate for this help as the wood is a needed part of our heating source and we just have not been able to get that to the top of the priority list.   I started stacking the wood today and by my estimate we have about 6-8 cord already piled here ready to be split and stacked for aging.   This makes me a happy and warm resident!   Thanks Dad for taking care of us in this way...it's sincerely appreciated!

Lastly, from the creative arts side of my life...my friend Lana who own's Quilt Junction in Waterford, ON has launched the commercialization of my 5th pattern in the mini series at the show exhibiting at the Royal Botanical Gardens.  You can see this mini work at my blog post last month...Here.   As of blog posting time she has nearly sold out of my patterns!   Thank you Lana for being such a great friend and supporter of my creative endeavours!

Wanda's First Ride and Josh Has Arrived

This weekend has been a busy one!
I played with Wanda in the arena and she seemed sensible and mentally connected, so I decided it was the right day to through a leg over and see if I could keep that same connection while mounted.   She is one big girl!  It felt great!   Reminded me of Emma in the glory days.   Same sort of personality but better movement.   We never ended up getting past the walk as I let her find her balance without interfering with her to create any additional worry.   It only took about 5 minutes before her walk started to be less hurried and her neck relaxed and her head dropped.   I could feel the back start to loosen and at that moment I knew riding her is going to be a journey filled with love and learning.

Emma had a chance to give my cousins young children a first ride on a big horse!   She was of course a perfect lady and just walked quietly around the arena as if she knew she had some delicate cargo abroad.   I love this horse with all my heart...even tho she has all kinds of flaws and issues, mostly stuff created by my lack of knowledge over the years developing her but some relationships are so valuable, even with all their imperfections.  Thank you Kerry, James and Alan, as well as little Hailey and Jack for spending the day with us on Sunday!

DH was busy (as usual) spreading the sand in the outdoor.   He got half done on Sunday late in the day and then the other half he finished last night.   Of course I was itching to get home from work tonight to give it a test ride!    We had some decent rain today and the ring was wet but it rode beautifully.    Izzy was a super star and I am so blessed to have this creature teaching me how to be a better horsewoman!

In process

 First Test Ride

Josh Nichol arrived yesterday for our Spring clinic.  Yeah!  He gave a very poignant and heartfelt lecture last night to kick of our week.   There was a good turnout and I hope that some of my friends that made the drive to support the clinic enjoyed hearing Josh's philosophy.   He's a brilliant horseman that has the horses best interest at the forefront of his style and helping humans understand the language of the horse as his goal for his teaching.   I feel so fortunate to be taking part and absorbing the flow of wisdom and love that Josh passes through in everything he does.   For me he's a living example of being the change you want to see.

Molly --> Her Future Career

Life on the farm with a dog is always interesting...We have only had our little darling for a few short months but we have had some very exciting adventures with her to date!

Emergency trips to the Pet Hospital to get antihistamine injections, dog ears off and dog nose on; to the woods with parents chasing, the usual housing training dilemma's were someone gets up and gets a wet sock and of course the less than glamorous horse poo eating feasts that ensue on nearly a daily basis!   But even with all those exciting and adventurous turn of events we still love her with all of our hearts.   There is something about the love from an animal that we as animal lovers surrender to.   The lack of ego, their ability to live in the moment and their totally honest conversations.    

I totally know I personify my pets and give them human like feelings and thoughts.  I have already had a running dialogue with Molly over eating the poops out of the cat litter and how disgusting it is and how all the other animals on the farm can smell her breath and know how gross she is.   She just looks up at me with those beautiful brown eyes with her nose incrusted in clumping cat litter and licks her lips!

Molly has also found her tail!   I have had a couple of very satisfying belly laughing, tears rolling down the cheeks kinda laughs as I watch her make the discovery and be fully determined to yank that damn thing clear off!    She pulls on her tail so hard that she actually falls over and rolls around unwilling to let go!   Here she is...I was laughing so hard I could hardly get this picture!

I have determined (delusionally, from my personifications) that Molly is going to head off to Med School when she gets old enough.   She has been practising diligently for her entrance exams on her willing patients toys.

As you can see here...A beaver that has had his spleen squeaker removed, an otter with a forelimb amputation and a rabbit that experienced a lobotomy.   She is skilled beyond the average dog, who just rips the guts out of their patients toys.

Training Fun Day

Today it was very warm (17C) but we had gale force winds to accompany the lovely warm weather.
It was so windy I rode inside today because the sand in the outdoor was blowing up into our eyes!
I decided to have a fun day training session today since the grind of daily dressage in the indoor can zap the motivation from both Izzy and I.
This was the rest station today.   When we got to the pedestal as long as she was on it with at least 2 feet it was a rest stop for at least 1 minute.   Funny how after about 3 rest periods every time we passed the pedestal Izzy was veering towards it!!

We also had a few other obstacles set up that we used as prix caprilli type obstacles.   Here is the small barrel jump.

I think I need to invest in some bigger jumps as these little barrels felt like an exuberant canter depart not a jump!

DH and I also cleaned up the trees that were down in the back 40.   The brush was all moved near the trail in the woods so it can be chipped and added to the path to keep the weeds down.

Molly was of course out and about in the fields enjoying some dog time; hunting and exploring.   She also likes to ride on the tractor!   Here we are heading back to the bush line to dump off another load of brush!

Spring Cleaning Starts

It's has been a cold yet productive week here on the farm.
DH and I have got our working mojo back on so we are getting back into the never ending "To Do" list for the farm.

DH put up a new eaves trough and downspout on the corner of the barn that attaches to the old bank barn.   Unfortunately the grading is all wrong in this area and with no downspout we have found that all the water falling off the roof not only pools in the low spot at the foundation corner but works it's way right on inside!   DH put a new eves trough and a down spout with an extension so that in the mean time before we get to the landscaping issue we are at least trying to direct the water away from the buildings!   He also spent a good deal of time cleaning and repairing the eaves troughs on the house as we have water and landscaping issues there as well.   It's still too early for the landscaping but the ground here is drying up wonderfully.

We spent Sunday last weekend getting wind whipped while grading the driveway and picking up all the fallen tree limbs and sticks from the lawn.   We also cut out a big stump that is in front of the house.   It still needs to be lower but it was getting on into the late afternoon so we called it a night.

Here is DH and Molly on the job site!

Here is the stump before 

And After...

There were some VERY interesting bugs inside this stump.   I have no idea what these bugs are.   If anyone knows please fill me in.    This bug is about 2 inches long.   They were not moving all that fast because I think we interrupted their hibernation sleep.

Molly has had a very adventurous week this week too!

Sunday was the first day the ice had cleared from the pond...guess who went for a polar dip!

Last night Terrie and I went for a short hack on Elvis and Izzy to the back 40.  We made an attempt to enter the bush but the bog near the entrance was not passable so we rode the fence line instead.   Molly and Tinker tailed us the entire way!   That was Molly's first hack while I was mounted!   She was super and I think Tink was a wonderful babysitter.   Big Thanks to Terrie and Tinker for giving Molly her first scouting lesson.  :-)

My Dad showed up today with another load of mulch for our trail through the woods.    He had Mark and Wendy with him today for a ride and tour to the country.   It's nice to see them and hear their comments on the farm.   According to them, things are changing around the place!  

This is amazing mulch and I am sooooo eager to get the trail started and rideable.  Look at the pile I have calling me.   This is the kinda "fun work" I enjoy around the farm.   Hacking is my horseback joy.   If I ever had to choose between showing and hacking...I could live without showing but having a horse without being able to hack would be an unhappy torture.

We have had the return of the robin!   I know spring can't be long now...if only the warm weather would show up.   We have also had the return of some other little guests at the bird feeders.    Hopefully these little guys know Missy Kitty lives here and is a much more stealth hunter than the bubbling blond!

I have spent some time dreaming about how the perfect pasture layout would look if I didn't have existing fencing already in place.    For me perfect is when the pastures all have gates that are accessible close to the barn and close to the water source.    Our old place I was fortunate to be able to design from scratch exactly how I wanted everything laid out.   Here I have not had that luxury.   I am trying to work within the existing fence lines but I think there may be some modification on the horizon for this  summer.   I still have 3 more pastures to remove the old fencing and install new fencing, so still time to change things before I get too far along.   

We have made the purchase of fencing supplies, so I am ready to go.   (My pink tool belt has had a lonely winter!)  We have also bought a new post hole auger...so it's just time now and we will have a new layout with convenience being a key motivating factor in the design.

DH has flattened out all the sequestered small lots the horses are living on at the moment.   They are basically dirt now; I don't expect any grass to actually grow in these areas this spring.   The horses have dug up these small lots quite a bit over the rainy fall and freeze and thaw winter we had.  They are all smooth again now, until we get rain of course!   But here's to hoping that the rain will at least run down the hills rather than collect on all the deep hoof holes.   

On a final sad note, I want to send my deepest condolences to my friend Greta who lost her lovely old boy Inschallah this week.   You might remember Insch from this blog post.   He was a special horse who I hope is now running fast and free in greener pastures.

A few years ago Greta and I boarded together at a facility near here.   Greta was out hacking and I was getting ready to ride.   Greta came back white as a ghost and Insch was sporting a sliced artery in his pastern from a mishap at a culvert.    We got him into the wash stall and called the vet ASAP.   I washed his leg and was applying pressure to his wound.   I stood bent over with my thumb in his artery for what seemed like hours before the vet arrived.   The minute I took my thumb out he would spirt blood over the white walls of the wash stall.   I ended up with blood all over my breeches and all I could see when I looked up from his leg was poor Greta sitting on a bucket in despair...we all were wondering if this was the end.  It turned out old Insch was just too tough to die that day and went on for many happy years after that!    Thank you Greta for being such an example of what horse ownership means...Inschallah had one of the best lives of any horse I know.   Big Hug Greta!