First Impressions

Earlier this week, I was driving home from Bangor, I was on Rt 15 in Orrington and on the side of the road was an oil truck. Not surprising since it IS Maine and we seem to have a never ending of snow and cold this winter. The part that surprised me is the color of the truck. At first glance it was a HIDEOUS pink color, like Pepto Bismal pink. I was thinking, "wow! must be a newer company just using whatever truck they can get their hands on", next came "I'd be embarassed to drive that truck". As I got closer, I realized it was a brand new truck, which made me think "what were they thinking??" As I got next to the truck I realized how mistaken I was. This truck is a Webber Energy truck, and across the side is a message about Breast Cancer Awareness. I felt foolish for ridiculing this truck and all of a sudden it was no longer a horrid looking thing, it touched me that this company bought a brand new truck in this color scheme simply to bring more awareness to a topic that every person should be aware of and support - Breast Cancer.

This also made me think back to a conversation I recently had. I am in no way shape or form a girly girl. I have always "hated" pink, give me jeans and a tshirt in navyblue/black and I'm a happy girl. About a year and a half or so ago, I started being drawn more to pink things - the first being a pink ball cap that says ARMY across it. I made Vince buy it and he seriously wanted to know what was wrong with me. I couldn't put my finger on it, but then in a recent conversation I realized just where this had come from - laugh if you want, but in 2006 Wrangler ran the "Are you tough enough to wear pink?" - it was the theme for the 06 NFR. I guess my line of thinking is, if all of these cowboys/tough guys can wear pink then SO CAN I! It is for a good cause right?? Go ahead and laugh. I know I did when I realized why all of a sudden I felt it "ok" for me to wear pink!!

Lovely February Snow

Winter in Maine is always a treat! It is not uncommon to go from 38* one day to 25* and yet another FOOT of snow the next. Yes, yes that is exactly what has happened this weekend!! We had 2 days last week of mild temps and then a "snow storm" that dumped about 8" on us. Saturday was sunny and beautiful and yesterday was "warm" HA! and over cast. Today should have been the kids first day back to school after vacation - so mommy's vacation should have started today.....No such luck.

This kennel is 6 feet tall - walking out to it the snow was waist deep!!

Both of these trees are WAY tall!! I'll have to see if I can find a picture from spring/summer - poor things are folded right in half!!

This tree is usually "fluffed" way out - I KNOW I have an "unsnow-y" picture of this tree and I'll try to find it - if you look on the right side you can see one of the other trees out there folded right over!

Another of the "fluffy" trees - those bottom branches are normally high enough that the kids and I can walk under there, the horses stand under there.....This snow is H E A V Y

First...my fence. That top wire is *normally* about 4 feet high. Second, you can barely see it but the neighbors cable tv wire is so weighed down that it comes off the phone pole at the road strait to the ground on her lawn!!!


Here is another picture of the tree out in the field that's bent right to the ground - I'm thinking it's probably broken :(


Rowdy wondering why the hell we have to live in Maine!!


Obviously the wires coming towards the camera are mine, you can see the neighbors line better in this picture.


Front of the barn. *sigh* I had to squeeze into the door and then squeeze out again with the shovel. This snow is WET, HEAVY and there's A LOT of it!!

I really do love it honestly but I AM very ready for spring at this point. I guess it's not done snowing yet either - supposed keep right on snowing thru tomorrow I believe.

Days like yesterday I can do without

So yesterday morning started with a stupid valentines argument with Vince - he was trying to be sweet and I was being....well, bitchy! So he took the kids fishing, and I headed for Sammii's to take her to go pick up Indy.
The trip to Parkman was uneventful of course, the trailer was empty. Indy got on the trailer relatively easily considering he's only not quite 5, hasn't been on a trailer since he was a weanling and one of those trips as a baby resulted in an accident where he almost hung himself! He stood fairly well while we waited for Sammii's friends husband to sand the driveway and the road out so we didn't slide into the woods. And we were on our way, both breathing a sigh of relief.....too soon of course.
About a mile down the road, we hit a frost heave and all hell broke loose. The trailer started rocking, I looked in my rearview mirror and the trailer was flailing from side to side and all I could see through the trailer window was feet and chest. I put on my blinker and tried to get the truck and trailer to the side of the road and stopped as quickly as possible without causing even more problems. Sammii jumped out the passenger side and I got out and went around the back of the trailer. I've never seen anything in my life like the scene in front of me.
Indy was sitting his front left leg/hoof were over the chest bar, his right front leg/hoof were over the divider and his hind legs were in the front of the trailer where the walk space is. Ok breathe - how the hell do we get him down. Sammii was trying to open the escape door (it sticks) She yelled "Lysh I can't get it open" and I headed around the side of the trailer - that was the FIRST time I've had almost NO trouble opening the stupid door but the noise of a passing car sent Indy flailing again and he ended up over backwards with his head and neck contorted and he was choking himself.
I was starting to get that panicky feeling, Sammii tried her cell but had no signal - I knew I had no signal because just when shit hit the fan, I'd looked at my phone to see if I had any missed calls. It was 11:48 when I looked. She looked at me and said "what the fuck are we going to do?" and a car crested the hill behind us - I told her to flag someone down and get them to go back to her friends house to get help. She practically had to jump in front of the car, they weren't going to stop - thankfully they did, and they went back and got Sammii's friends husband, Seth. We were getting ready to cut the trailer tie so he could breathe - thankfully I had my hoof knife in the bed of the truck because my razor knife is sitting on the dryer!
I stepped into the trailer and was trying to keep Indy calm, keep myself calm and figure out what the hell to do.
Picture this - a beautiful bay horse, on his back with his head and neck twisted to the front of the trailer, attached snugly to the trailer, his shoulders/withers where his ass should have been, a hoof over the divider and his assend where his front end should have been.....a TRULY thoroughly terrifying site. I was trying to figure out how to get a lead rope on him so when I cut the tie, we'd still have something to hold onto him with in case he did manage to get out over the tailgate or SOMETHING. I wasn't putting anything past this horse/situation.
I reached for the tie and he started flailing. Sammii yelled for me to get out of the way and I dove out the escape door and we slammed it shut - I'm not really sure why, honestly it was the adrenaline/fear pumping at that point. I saw the metal on the PASSENGER side of the trailer give as his foot slammed into it, and then silence. Neither one of us knew what to expect when we opened the door but it wasn't what we saw.....Indy was ON HIS FEET and standing there, blowing and looking around like "what?"!!! OMFG!
He was still nerved right up and there was NO WAY that we were going anywhere. We couldn't unload him and walk him back to her friends house - the road was crazy busy - NOT ONE car stopped, very few slowed down even!! There were TWO cars directly behind us when shit hit the fan and NEITHER of them stopped. They HAD to have seen what happened.
Seth finally got there - truth be told, it didn't take long but it seemed like forever. Sammii gave him instructions to go back to the house and call the vet - we couldnt' see any injuries - how I don't know but he has nothing but minor scrapes, but there was no way we were going to be able to do anything without a vet coming to sedate him.
Seth went and was back about 15 minutes later - vet had a cow emergency but said this took precedence and he'd be "right along" and Seth went home. Sammii stood in the trailer patting Indy and talking to him, keeping his head forward for a while, and then asked if I'd stand with him so she could have a cigarette. I climbed in and stood with him and scratched his face and rubbed his neck - he is a very sweet boy but he was still so nerved up.
After a few minutes, Sammii climbed back in with him and we waited some more. A white van crested the hill and slowed down and we were hoping it might be the vet....no such luck, they were pulling into the driveway just in front of the truck. About 5 minutes later, we're standing there all is calm with Indy and some moron right next to us somewhere shoots a damn .22 or other smaller caliber gun. And that was the end of Indy's calm. He didn't flip back out, but he was a lot more nervous and fidgety.
Thankfully at about 1:15 we saw a vet truck....only it kept on a driving!! WHAT?! About 5 minutes later, another truck pulled up behind us and Dr. Hernke from Dover Vet Clinic got out. He told us that the on call vet had just passed us - he didn't know what was going on, but whatever he was there now that was all that mattered!
He asked Sammii a few questions and climbed in the trailer to give Indy a quick once over to see if there were any major injuries that he could see and he discussed with Sammii what he was going to do - he felt it would be best to give Indy a combination of Xylazine and Acepromizine. To give him Dormosedan would too heavily sedate him and we didn't want to drop him to the floor....although, I did think it might be easier to get him home that way LOL.
Dr Hernke listened to Indy's heart and then gave him the sedatives IV. While he was doing that, the on-call vet pulled up and said that she had thought she had another emergency and knew that Dr Hernke was on his way. Neither Sammii nor I felt that we would have cared for her - her tone/manner was not as comforting or friendly as Dr. Hernke.
Pretty soon, Indy's eyes were a little droopy and his head was lowering a little....what a great site to see!! Dr Hernke and Sammii took care of the details, and I climbed in to shorten his tie a little - didn't want his head drooping too low. That's when I noticed it....when we moved the divider over to load him, the butt chain had been left hanging attached to the wall of the trailer.
We figure, the combination of the close cars behind us, the frost heave jolting not only him but the butt chain would have swung and smacked his hind leg(s) and also sent the hay bag swinging which would have smacked him in the face - it all would have been enough to send him through the roof - literally!!
We got in the truck, taking deep breaths and hoping for an uneventful trip home at about 1:40pm. In all honesty, the time went by fast but slow at the same time. We pulled into Sammii's driveway and Indy unloaded like a pro, he was still a little sedated though. Sammii did a quick once over and then turned him out with her daughters mare Tia, and his parents, Jesse and Danny (who is now gelded). Jess wanted nothing to do with him and she made it clear that he was NOT part of her herd, Danny submitted to Indy with the baby chewing motions that young horses usually do when introduced to other horses, and Tia was pretending to be friendly long enough to get close and then would chase him off. But that's the way of herd dynamics.
I made it home just in time to get Lady's things together for her "mom" to pick her up and take her home to her new barn and new friends. Good luck to Michele and Lady (aka Shy shy).
After all of this, and much discussion between Sammii and I, my trailer is for sale. I need/want a stock trailer. We both feel this would have been avoided had he been able to be loose in a box stall AND - had something happened, there would have been more room for us to SAFELY work around him.
I have also decided that I am getting a kit of some sort together of tools and handy things to have in an emergency and I will NEVER take another trip without these emergency items!! We had ONE lead rope, we had NO extra rope, no knives except the hoof knife, no tools and absolutely NO first aide stuff. WTF was I thinking??

Happy Birthday Rowdy!!

Ok so really his birthday was on the 12th, but me being a bad mommy "forgot". I remembered on the 10th but it slipped by me on the actual date! He is growing into such a cute little twirp. Almost 13 hands and oh so smart. He loves to run and play and is just the friendliest little critter. His "boys" STILL haven't dropped - hoping they do very soon so he can have his brain surgery as he's a little nippy already and I don't want the hormones taking over his head completely. I'll discuss all of this with the vet when I get them out for spring shots. Now, here's Rowdy a year ago: of course with his little tongue hanging right out of his mouth from the get go the little rotten brat!! And now....This picture was taken a couple weeks ago.

Running running everywhere!! He spent most of the summer and fall turned out with the goats in a run in/paddock situation. He wasn't horribley difficult to work with but he did play the "catch me if you can" game. Once he was caught, he was easy as pie to work with. He's a smart boy and since he was a newborn, I've worked with him on the lead, picking up all 4 feet and letting me touch EVERY square inch of his body. When I decided to bring him into the main barn to get him used to being caught easily, he played catch me if you can only once. He quickly learned that "hey! that's mom and mom has food or scratches - I LIKE her" and that was all it took. He was the last one in that very first night, and it took me about 10 minutes to convince him that I wasn't going to eat him - and he came to me. I hate having to chase horses, I hate it when they don't come to the gate to come in. Old me, used to get tired of waiting them out and go get them.....well new, old me says "nah! if they want to eat, they'll come to me." Lo and behold - it worked. They may stay at the far side of the field for a minute, but once they realize that mom's not coming to get them - like they've lost the ability to find their way back to the gate, then they make their way to me.

Anyway - this is supposed to be about the Rowdsters birthday! :) He is growing into a handsome young man, and I often find myself thinking "I so wish that Buck had still been here to meet him. They'd have had a blast together" - not only that, but Rowdy would be a "well traveled" young man because I could have ponied Rowdy anywhere from on Buck. It will come, either once Buddy has more miles on him or maybe I'll steal Skippy away for a short ride now and then.

So happy birthday baby!! I absolutely adore you!