a surprise

April 29 to May 1 is the Mane event in Red Deer. This is a big horse exhibition with demos, clinics and speeches. Its always pretty busy. There are different clinicians which teach every part of the horse world (jumping, dressage, western, horsemanship,...). I really enjoy to go there. Unfortunately, I had to work the whole weekend !! The big surprise came yesterday morning when my boss told me if we are done early we will go to the Mane event for a few hours... AWESOME !! So, I worked as fast as I could but of course persons left and right had special wishes I had to fulfill... Finally, after 4 pm me and two coworkers were ready to go. We stopped in Sylvan Lake for food and then around 6 pm we reached the Mane event... I was suppost to meet my friends before they head out for supper between 6.30 and 7 pm. I made it just in time to catch them watching a demo of Jonathan Field. After the demo we strolled around in the exhibition for a couple of hours. The exhibition closed at 9 pm. And yeah it was time to go home anyway. The night check had to be done. It was my turn.... i was in bed around 11.30 pm !!! A very short night !!

Let it rain, let it rain...

Finally, the rain is here. The last two days were grey clouds hanging around and yesterday it was raining for around 5 min. Now, it`s raining pretty good. Unfortunately, the weather guys talk about snow again. NO !!! It`s May soon... enough snow !! We want spring, spring, spring !!!! The good thing with rain is that the snow will go away pretty fast... We don`t want new one again. The grass is growing good and the buds on the trees are out too. I don`t mind rain, as long as they up there know when to stop again...

supervisor

On Tuesday we worked some more on the church. 3 persons were putting varnish on the wood and Robin and I put some more planks up. Then around noon Charlene and I left for Drayton Valley. For an appointment and buying food. We took our time and had a good time. In the evening we had the BBQ, the meat was awesome ! The next day, after I slept in and we took it easy, we headed down to the church again to work more. This time were Robin, Charlene and I there. And Reggie, the black cat. He was supervising our work. And of course he wanted to be cuddled too. :) So, I was assisting Robin and holding Reggie in my arms. He loves to ride in a (semi-) truck, car or on a quad. So funny ! :D

bad news

Unfortunately, my road trip got cancelled :(:( I was so excited to go on this trip !! Looks like we only postponed it and soon we will go. I am not sure what I will do tomorrow yet. Maybe help painting the church ? I really hope we have a BBQ tomorrow night, that would be great.

finally the results !

Only one more day to work and then..... ROAD TRIP from northern Alberta to southern Alberta :D:D:D:D My last three days included a lot cleaning and disinfecting ! I have a headache almost everyday from the smell of the disinfecting stuff. Today, we finally got the result of the test. It's not strangles, only a cold. The 2 year old had a abscess. It's still a pain to work in the barn 'cause every time we go from one barn to the other we have to walk through a tub with disinfectant and change at least our sweater. And maybe the horses have to be treated with antibiotics. So, they changed the flag from red to orange... it's still contagious but not like strangles. I guess we will see what's going on further down the road....

work on Easter

Back to work on Easter. Good friday to Easter Monday... Not too bad I guess. ;) I won`t be bored at all here in the barn. There are 8 sick horses ! Some have a snuddy nose and/or cough and fever. Soon, we will see who gets bumps like the first has too. We are doing chores and beside that disinfect a lot. Its almost like in a hospital. Tomorrow, the result should be back. I sure hope its not strangles... !!

Easter

Happy Easter to everyone !! Enjoy the time with your family

cuties

I am on my days off again. Nice sunny weather, around 11 plus degrees, a lot of mud everywhere. You still need rubber boots. Some spots are dry, which is really nice. :) Yesterday we took it easy, had good visits, went out in the field to feed cows and switch the horses to another pasture. The calves are healthy and enjoy the nice weather. These cuties are real adventurer, one went for a walk over the snow bank, kids.... ;D Today is the big machinery auction sale in Rimbey. In the opinion of a lot of farmers this should be a stat holiday :D I guess this auction will be the whole day... I am not sure if I will go, I went to 3 farm auctions and so it's nothing new for me... I guess I will stay home and bake cupcakes.... I am in the mood for chocolate cupcakes.

strangles ??

My 4 work days weren't too bad this time too. Well, Sunday evening someone discovered that one of the 2 year old Quarter horses has a bump on this jaw which broke open... ! Is it strangles ? Or an abscess ? A bad tooth ? Anyway, someone said the horse has strangles, she has to go in the hospital barn over night. So, we put her in this other barn and the vet came the next day to have a look at her. Poor little girl ! She wasn't happy at all to be in this barn all by herself... :( The vet took an example of the liquid in the bump to send it away for a test. In the meantime we almost closed down the barn, no horse leaves or come to the barn. The warmbloods can go out in the paddocks during the day, the Quarter horses not. We disinfect all the places where different horses have been, at every door is a tub with water and bleach,... and it smells almost like in a hospital. Every barn has its own tools now... I sure hope it's not strangles.

carpenter job

WEEKEND !!! My last 4 day werent bad, there was only two situations when I had to scratch my head... So, not too bad !! I am on my weekend now and it started with a carpenter job right after a arrived at the farm. I helped putting boards up on the inside of the church. Its kinda neat, all boards are interlocking with each other and then all you have to do is putting nails in it with at nail gun. Unfortunately, I had to stand on a metal thing with boards on it which was pretty high. I could manage to stand up there but only when the planks werent moving !! A couple of times the boards were moving and I had a hard time not to freeze. I was pretty proud of me when we were done. It was sure a funny feeling to be on solid ground again. I will help some more tomorrow again :) Unfortunately, one horse got kicked by another horse and his shoulder is not in place anymore. The shoulder blade seems to be rotated to the back. It looks very painful. The chiropractor should come over tomorrow and have a look at him.

really snow again.. !

Nothing exciting goes on here at the moment... a few new horses in the barn, a couple went home... The weather is sunny and warm if the wind is not blowing ! :( Unfortunately, the weather guys are talking about snow on Thursday and Friday !!! AND I AM OFF THEN !!!! That is not nice ! I didn`t put my winter gear away yet `cause I know there can be days like these two. I sure hope these snow clouds will disappear ! There are already buds on the bushes. The geese and robins are back. So, this is spring !!!

sad day - nice day

Sunny day again, no wind this time, just great !!! I felt the urge to go for a walk down the road. The day started with a call from Charlene to help them bring in a cow which was ready to calf last night. I thought the calf was already born during the night but I guess not.... We picked her up in the pasture and brought her in the pen with the shelter. The calf was butt first coming which is not a good thing. So, we tried to find the hind legs so we could pull it out. The cow was so nice, she knew we would help her. When we pulled it out finally, it was dead :( Another poor little dead calf :( Fortunately, its not always a sad ending. There are around 6 calves out in the pasture exploring the snowbanks, other cows,... :) so cute ! After another trip out in the cow pasture to put ear tags on the new babies, I went for a nice little walk down the road to the blue steel gate. I had three buddys with me, Cooper, Reggie and Glancey. It was a nice little walk. I really enjoyed it. As soon as I was back the the farm, Rob asked me if I wanna go to the big town of Winfield with him. Sure, I love to go for a little drive...

baby cows / interesting ride

Yesterday, the weather was nice, sunny but a cold wind was blowing. There are two calves out in the pasture. I wanted to see them. In the morning Rob and I took off to Breton, I had to buy food and mail my easter parcels, he had to buy a piece for a gravel truck or so and do some insurance stuff. Then we had lunch at the little cafe where Krista is working. It was good food. Rob got a call to buy cooking oil, so we headed to the grocery store and suddenly I was in the mood for a oreo ice cream sandwich ;) We bought each an ice cream and brought home one for Marc and Charlene. I love ice cream ! Now it was time to check on the cows. Rob and I walked out to see if there are more cuties around. No, not yet... only the two. In the meantime the neighbours came over to get a riding lesson. I went to the arena to have a look what they were doing. There was Buddy, Krista's horse, tied up in the arena. I like him, he is a busy bee ! As soon as you mount him he is full of energy and walks pretty fast. I could do some things on the ground with him first, then I had the chance to ride him. :) I was just aching to ride him... I got him ready which was informative for the neighbours. He was not with me with his thoughts when I asked him to move over... so i gave him a smack on the butt and he had a little freakout, pulled back ! Oh great !!! I don't like that. So I send him forward like I always do. From the background I heard 'Oh good' or something when I smacked him on the butt but I didn't have time to wonder what's going on there I was a little busy. Finally, I had the gear on him and was ready to mount. As soon as I was in the saddle off we went for a fast walk in the arena. I rode what he threw at me, counterbend, stops, circles,... it was fun. After a few minutes he kinda settled down, still pretty fast walking. I could feel him getting a little bit slower. Interesting !! So we did our rounds and finally when I rode him over the bridge he was level headed for a short time (he is usually high headed, no wonder he is so full of energy) I was so thrilled when I saw that, good boy !! I would like to try a balance rein on him. That would be interesting to see him with that, to see the difference... :D

stepping in a different world

After even more headaches at work, I am off (Thursday evening) ! It's like stepping in a different world... My world on my days off :) As soon as I arrived here at the farm, said hi to everyone Jeff asked me if I would like to join him at a horse sale. Sure i wanted ! I really needed that. So we took off to Thorsby. Everywhere are cow herds with babies. So cute. :D The sale was interesting, a lot different stuff, good and junk. Jeff bought a nice shirt and a box for this saddle making tools. I enjoyed to be in a crowd of cowboys. I love it, this is more my world... Jeff and I enjoyed our time and had fun.

3 days review

One more day to work... It's amazing how fast 4 days fly by. I was pretty busy the last few days. Monday was not too bad, it was just a long day and I was too tired to work with Ben. So, I left this aside and went relaxing. On Tuesday, also not too bad we were done at 4.30 pm and I had the energy to massage Ben. This time only the hind quarters. This horse has soooo many zones to work on... He enjoyed the massage of the cold castration scar. Unfortunately, he is shedding at the moment and so I got more hair out then really worked with the muscles :( Poor guy ! We'll keep going with working on the ground and massage. I hope I can make a difference. Today was a even longer day then on Monday. I was finally done at 5.15 pm !! It's pony club meeting on Wednesday evening and so you better stay away then ;D So, I had supper after work and then headed over my room to put my dirty cloths in the washer. Now, I wait for the dryer to be done and soon it's time to feed the gang again. My last night check before my weekend :) I can't wait.... My body needs a rest from shovel shit ! I can feel my tendons start to hurt and my shoulder muscles are aching too. I guess it's time to push my bones in the right position again... tomorrow evening will be the right time :)

sunday and a gun show

It was pot lock after church which is that everyone who comes to church brings food. I made a pasta salad, that's always good for pot locks. I like pot locks, you never know what people bring ;) After we ate someone was starting to talk about a gun show in Drayton Valley. I totally missed this whole conversation 'cause I was talking to another lady. So, almost everyone took off again and Charlene suggested that Rob, Marc and I should go to Drayton too. We took off as fast as we could 'cause the show was only till 3 pm. On our way to Drayton, we had a good time and it was nice sunny weather. I really enjoyed the drive. When we reached the place where the show was it was already 2 o'clock. It was interesting to see all the different guns, holster, bullets,... it's a totally different world I've never entered before. I wandered around and had a look at all the stuff... There was everything a hunter's heart can desire ! I tried an outdoor coat which felt pretty nice and could be the answer for me in the Canadian winter time. The only thing was the price and that I don't have more space in my suitcase ;D Marc and Jeff bought both a shot gun, Marc's is 99 years old, back home again they had to try them of course. They asked me if I would like to shoot too. I was in for that :) You never know when you need to use a gun... I shot 3 times, twice with a new shot gun and once with old one. If you don't hug the gun tight the backlash hurts ! And the longer the gun is the less is the backlash. :) I learned a lot... I look forward to my next adventure :D

painting and a colic

Today, we took it easy again, discovered that a horse has lice and put some powder on him to get rid of this little creepers. Now, it feels like the stupid lice are on me too !!! :( And I helped Jeff to paint the leaves on his leather piece from the spurs. This was just like painting with numbers ;D Charlene and I were in the living room talking and from time to time I looked out of the window to see what the horses in front of the house do. Dusty was laying down, rolling, lay still, rolling and get up. He did this a few times... I thought, oh no, please not a colic !!! Then he was laying on the ground again and rolled when Charlene said, it looks like Dusty has a belly ache !! So I grabbed a halter and picked him up in the pasture to go for a walk. Robin gave him a needle and off we went in the muddyless arena to walk around. I guess we were doing loops for around 20 min when Rob came to tell me that supper is ready soon. We dropped Dusty off in his pen and headed to the house for supper. It looks like he is fine now.

miniture horses and a tack shed

Another 4 days are gone and so it's time for my days off again. So, we went to town yesterday first to get food and then headed to the farm. There was a horse trailer in the yard... with a miniture horse in it :) Charlene's mother just bought this little guy. I took the chance to go with them to drop it off at the farm and see the whole herd of minis. They were soo cute, some have so puffy manes ;) The farm is totally in the bush which is nice, I love that :D She also makes harness', halters and all kind of tack. Nice stuff ! I really liked it.