One Less Thing

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France

My aunt has always been the all-or-nothing type of person and she has lived her life as though she believed that anything she had not mastered was just something she had not yet tried. She also has always been quite discerning about matching her desires and talents, but no job was beneath her. In times of necessity, she just does what is necessary. She has always been one to get by with what she had, learn about what she did not know how to do, and then just make it work. She loved music so she took piano and voice lessons. Then she formed two singing groups: one large one with about 50 teens and another small one that started as a soft Christian rock band and evolved into the country gospel one I was in. Even though she is in her seventies now, she is still leading a choir for two productions each year. She always scheduled time to read, play an instrument, do art, and rest, because even she believed she worked hard enough to earn time for those pleasures. She still milks goats twice a day and works in the gardens. From the time I can remember she could out work most men and always took on more than most people would do. In fact, she worked at a technical college after having graduated from there with a business degree in her forties and when she retired in her sixties, they hired three full-time people to replace her and still begged her to come back to work part-time.

Needless to say, my aunt is one of the people I admire and strive to be like. Actually, we have some similarities in that when I do something, I give it all I have and try to it better than it was done before or do more than would be expected. I throw myself into whatever I do, until I am completely exhausted and unable or quite roughly tossed back out, because I just see complications and difficulties as expected in life's course, rather than signs. There must be a way that I can make it work!

Obviously, there is a downside to being this type of person:

There is always more things I can take on
...and once I have committed myself to a long term task,
I have difficulty ending it.

This leads to sometimes having too much to do
...and not enough of me to do them.

Sadly, I rarely take hints, even from my Lord, that I need to back out politely and gracefully at times, so He usually has to be very direct and leave no doubt in my mind and even back me into corners so that I have only one choice, which is out. I don't like giving up or giving in, yet in my heart, I want to listen better, obey quicker, and please Him more, which sometimes requires me to do those things.

My dear readers have been reading the moanings of my heart: Time Slipping Away and Where Has My Peace Gone? My poor husband and daughter have been enduring my weekly meltdowns for weeks mostly because I now have the added task of preparing the praise and worship part of our church services. At this point, it takes hours to do this well, probably because of my inexperience with picking music to flow, preparing lyrics to be projected, and learning the songs well enough to be comfortable to lead them. I would enjoy them more if I did not feel that I have to squeeze them into a schedule that is already overloaded. Still, I feel this new task brings pleasure to my Lord.

In fact, I am sure it pleases Him, because this week my Lord healed my vocal cords. Yes, He did! I had been asking for this because I caused damage to my vocal cords when I used to lecture. Within the tight range I used for speaking, my singing voice would just be extremely weak on certain notes and I tend to go hoarse after phone conversations or speaking for just a half an hour. I felt a heaviness in my throat last week asked my Lord what was happening and felt Him tell me that He was healing my voice. Last Sunday, I sang without a crack, without weakness on any note! I ran scales on our piano and my voice range is strong and nearly as broad as it was when I was young.

I have an amazing God! Worthy of all praise!

So...the question has been: am I to keep doing everything that is the most pleasing to my Lord for He is worthy of my obedience?

A few nights ago, my husband asked me to consider a Christian private school for the Princess, because he felt I did not enjoy homeschooling anymore and we are going to be out of credit card debt before the end of this month. (YAY! to that payment being gone.) I would have time by myself every day to devote to other things that I would like to do, but we would be constrained to a school schedule and that alone is not really appealing with my husband's erratic work schedule. Worse is that we would have to rearrange everything from helping at the horse barn to piano lessons, because everything would have to be in the evening when she would have homework to keep up with a class. When would she have time to play with friends? No, I felt certain that was not a solution nor God's leading. The main reason I have not been enjoying homeschooling is because I feel I am not doing it well and I feel rushed to fit everything into three days each week, so that my only child has some time to play with friends as I feel that is important for her.

Am I to give up the classical homeschool approach? To be honest, that is not been given the full commitment necessary to make it work for us and a good part of that is that I really am only doing the core lessons on three days each week or less if my husband takes off Monday or Friday as a comp day, or gets home early on Friday (rare but it happens). What falls by the wayside is art, violin, writing, science, or history. I try to rotate which so that they are all covered some, but that is not the way I would like for it to be. She loves science, writing, violin, and art. She also seems to like history to a lesser degree, but that may be because I am not really working history the way I hoped.

I still feel called to homeschool. I feel called to lead praise and worship. I feel called to be a wife, mother, and keeper of my home. I feel my daughter's calling has something to do with art, writing, and music...and maybe the last one has something to do with why I am the praise and worship leader now?

Here's the part that hurts...I do not feel called to take care of the horse barn. I prayed before she was born that my daughter would be gifted in music and ride horses. She is gifted in music, very much so, and she has ridden horses, but she may not love riding and caring for the horses. I love it so much. I would go everyday if I could, but my daughter seems to be basically okay with it. We have been going to the horse barn since we had the second van, over a year and a half. We have been working the barn in the mornings mostly by ourselves for over a year. My daughter still does not have that knack for horses I hoped would develop and that may be in part because there are so many to care for all with their own personalities and quirks. I am thinking if she had just one or two with which she really could interact more intimately, she would feel differently. Maybe riding lessons would be a better solution...?

At this point, I feel whatever we do with horses, if we continue to do anything with horses, it would be better to do in the evening. She still wants to be a part of 4-H and that is doable for us as it works around school hours on evenings, weekends, and school breaks, but not every week. I feel at peace with this decision finally--perhaps the wake up call was my husband suggesting private school, which would have forced this change anyway--still, I am not looking forward to talking with Miss Annette to tell her. I know that it is difficult for her to care for all the horses herself with her health conditions and there are few homeschooling families in the club, who are willing to take mornings, fewer she feels are confident with the horses and trustworthy for the barn responsibilities. I know that giving it up will burden her, so I am praying that my Lord will fill her need, so that it is not a burden for her.

~ My Lord, letting go of a commitment is very difficult for me, especially one that I love to do, but I am believing that there was a reason You placed working at the 4-H horse barn in ours lives for a season and a reason that You have lead us away for another season. Please, my Lord, be kind to your servant, Miss Annette, as I know she loves you and serves you through 4-H. Provide her with help at the barn so that she is not burdened from us no longer continuing to come on Tuesday mornings. ~

Playing Telephone

Cell phones are not a sign of power, they're a sign of subservience. ~Doug Pappas

Yesterday was rather interesting. When we arrived at the horse barn, the Princess noticed immediately that several horses were not there. I had forgotten the dates, but I knew that the girls with their horses would be going to a week long camp during the summer and since only the boarded horses were missing, I was not alarmed. Not at that...but there was something that caught my attention and did cause me some concern: Dunny was limping.

Dunny is a new horse to the barn, having been there only two weeks. He is owned by a friend of Miss Annette, the 4-H leader and owner of the barn. Dunny is being leased by one of the 4-H mothers, who also boards her own horse there. She is leasing him for the 4-H'ers to have horse to ride, since Molly is the only large horse owned by Miss Annette along with the five mini's and two ponies.

After bringing the horses into their stalls and Dunny to an outside pen at the corner of the paddock as we have no available stalls, I took a quick look at Dunny's leg. It was bleeding and there was a cut into the hoof at the coronet band, where the hoof wall and the skin meet. At first, I thought it could be the cut causing the problem and it would be deep to cause him to limp so badly, so I had the Princess knock on Miss Annette door, but not only was no one home, but the dogs were not as well, which suggested that she was either with the girls at the camp or, as I later found out, she is on an Alaskan cruise.

Now the problem is my cell phone gets very bad reception at the barn and just a bit better when I am up by the house, but only enough to hear and give very broken messages. I needed to call the woman leasing Dunny, but I had to call home hoping my husband had not yet left on to go to another state to work. He was home and after ten minutes and two calls, because we got cut off, I finally had a phone number, but no answer and, yes, her daughter was at the camp so she could have had her mother's cell phone.

My husband called another mother, whom he knows, and texted me to look for the emergency numbers in the feed room notebook. I got them walked back up to find the best signal and called all three. One went to a bank and the other two were no longer in service.

In between the walking back and forth with the cell phone, I cleaned up Dunny's left fore leg with hydrogen peroxide and really examined the injury. He is a gentle horse and allowed me to lift his hoof without fussing. There was a cut in the hoof, but it was just the outer wall and it was not bleeding. What I found was that his pastern was bleeding all around with a general rawness and that he was swollen in the same areas. Before he was fed and after, he was pawing between the pen bars with that same leg, so I deduced that he was causing himself injury and that we would need to either have someone stay with him while he is in the pen or feed him somewhere else because at this point the tendons were swollen and warm. I was also concerned about infection, particularly because I could not find the purple spray that we use on cuts and abrasions. I wrote a message to place near the white board relaying information about Dunny's pawing injury to the other barn families and planned to call the leasing mother when I got home and went on with our work.

About ten minutes later three vehicles come whizzing in. Children run breathlessly toward the paddock and one says, "There's Mack!" pointing to the Iceland pony coming up from the upper field looking to get a drink. Another one echoes the same words as if she could not believe Mack would be there. I said, "Well, of course there's Mack." The children went on naming the horses they saw, ignoring my questioning look. These were 4-H homeschooling families that live nearby. Finally, the three mothers came up with questioning looks also.

Apparently, the mother my husband called got the impression that all the horses were missing and only Dunny was there...and he was injured. I thought he may have misunderstood me due the the signal breaking up. Later I would learn that my husband mentioned that some of the horses were not there as I had told him and he understood they were at camp. However, "horses missing" and "Dunny injured" must have been the terms that made the mother must have assumed that the horses had gotten out. Relieved the mothers talked awhile, examined Dunny, and planned to feed him in the arena or watch him in the pen. The Princess was delighted to play around with so many children that she likes so well, while we talked about how the emergency numbers failed and how to improve organizing the barn, maybe even having a phone in the barn. (Annette's husband works for the phone company.) One mother texted the mother leasing Dunny to update her about his habit and injury, which she texted back that she would check on him later.

Just as the three families began to leave, another came. This was a homeschooling family I had not met so we talked some after the other left. Three of the families were still homeschooling, not that they planned to homeschool in the summer, but they had not finished the year yet. I am so glad I just homeschool year around, although lately it is very light. The last family now feeds on Wednesday morning. There used to be a feeding schedule posted in the barn, but we do not have one now and that was one of the things we discussed about organizing the barn better. By the time the last family left, it was noon and rather hot, so the Princess did not ride and we left to run a few errands and eat lunch at home.

It just was not the typical Tuesday, but it was less typical when my husband called to tell me that he is all right, which is his opening line when he has been in a accident. I was relieved to hear that it was an accident with rubber coming off the tire of a semi truck. However, it caused some damage with the van and to fix it was going to cost far more than if he was home and able to go to our favorite garage...and maybe cost more than the van is worth, but buying another vehicle would cost more and is not in the budget right now so...I am just wandering where this will go.

~ My Lord, help us to hear truth as it is not as we fear it could be and also guide us into making the best decisions about the van. ~

Spring Swings

In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four-and-twenty hours. ~Mark Twain

It has been a wild week! The weather was wild. The horses were wild. Schedules were wild. It all is swinging back and forth, up and down, upside down and right again. It has been enough to make me dizzy with its anticipation and apprehension.

Monday
It was the only normal day I had the entire week and when I say normal, that is including teaching the Princess how to add and subtract unlike fractions. Finding the lowest common denominator and such things that can make her mentally zone out for the rest of the day, if I did not head her off. It was a pretty good day.

Tuesday
Weather predictions on Tuesday were that it would be partially sunny in the late morning and in the 60's, so the Princess and I looked forward to work some of the minis and ride. Our partner family would be there for the chores, but had other obligations that day and I was thankful that it would be just the Princess and me. The mother offered to stay to help us saddle the horses if we would like...all I can say is that I was glad I was on the phone with her at the time, so she could not see me shaking my head and rolling my eyes to stifle the spontaneous laughter that so wanted to be released at that moment.

Tuesday, however, was cloudy, breezy, and a bit too cool all day long. The paddock was mucky, but the arena was in good shape. We groomed one of the most docile of the the minis and planned to lunge him--actually that would be train him to lunge--but Annette, did not have the type of whip the trainer had used the previous Saturday. I tried to improvise with what we had available, but it just was not going to work. We also need rope halters for the minis to give the pressure needed on the nose, so that they will respond better and these we do not have, but I plan to buy a few.

Giving up on the idea of working with the horses after it began raining, we went on to the milk farm. We got our raw milk and diamotaceous earth there. I saw a couple of Sharii and Midnight's relatives. The Princess trotted off to the petting area and saw the baby pigmy goats.

Wednesday
Wednesday my husband took the day off and went with us on the field trip to the tack store. The Princess decided to ride in the 4-H van with all the other children and we drove our own van. The children spread out looking at everything but were well behaved at the store. There the Princess bought a whip, grooming brushes, a comb, and a hoof pick. I bought the the same for myself and a canvas bag for the grooming supplies. We both spent about $40. The whips are not exactly what I wanted but can be modified to shorten the drop so they will work. Most of the 4-H'ers are girls so it was not until after the shopping frenzy subsided, that the owners' son gave a talk about bits and pressure points they use, which was very informative. We stopped to eat on the way home, although I did not eat as it was my fasting day.

Thursday
Miss Annette scheduled her farrier to come on Thursday morning at 9:00 this week because school is out in our county. (Oddly, though, the three of the four families there were homeschoolers.) Although it would crunch our shopping time, I really had not planned on getting much this week, so I felt we could attend. Thankfully I did bring my mud boots, but I wish I had also brought my gloves; I should know by now that hardly anything at Miss Annette's is for just spectators. I was helping children getting horses from the upper pasture to bring to the farrier. They watched as he trimmed the hoofs of each and every one of the four horses, two ponies, and five minis. Only Molly gets shoes on her front hooves to correct her aging posture.

Miss Annette asked me to hold the ones who tend to be less compliant. The impatient Senoia, a regular horse, is a bit of dancer, but she was rather good for me. Ribbon, a mini, was fine until he picked up that same back leg that she gave me fits about two weeks ago. It was the third hoof he worked on so it was not about the order. We are thinking that something is going on with that leg, but there was no noticeable swelling anywhere. The last problem another mini, Blue. Actually, his name is Chip of the Blue Moon, because he is all black with a sliver of a crescent on this head. My daughter and an inexperienced teenager went to get him, but I could see him wildly running around in his paddock and kicking up his heels. The Princess told me later he almost kicked her. I brought him up and had him in place but then he suddenly pushed sideways against me. I did not fall, just got off balanced, so Annette took hold of him. I was still fasting and kind of tired after dealing with Ribbon, so I gratefully handed him over to her.

While there, the mother that works with me on Thursday said that she was personally going to be lunging and training Blue. I just looked far off to the upper pasture as if something had caught my attention. I plan not be lunging the minis until we have those rope halters, but we will be walking them just to get them used to the idea that they will be exercised. Still, it is very hard not to say what I am thinking when she says such things. I think she has a good heart, but she just sounds like she is more knowledgeable and experienced than she is, perhaps the opposite of me because I was thinking I was not all that knowledgeable or experienced and recently I have come to realize I know more than I thought I did. Obviously, Annette thinks I handle the horses well enough.

I really do not feel it is my call to make about what the other mother does, it really is up to Annette, but when I am one out there with her, I can only make it understood about what I will or will not be doing. Annette did lay down the rule that all her horses were to be ridden with bits and no more halter reining. I think she feels it gives the horses too much opportunity to foster bad habits in not responding to their riders.

Although fasting had done its work and all my upper back muscular tightness was gone by Thursday morning, I had made a chiropractic appointment for the afternoon, so we were getting home later that usual. Around 5:00, my husband calls me as I am driving the last three miles home, asking me if we would like to go out to dinner. He was leaving for Denver in a few hours, a last minute thing, and would be back sometime on Saturday. After feeding all my own furry ones and changing clothes, we went out and parted at the restaurant.

The temperature Thursday was in the 70's and then it turned very windy towards the evening. One of our neighbor's trees is now resting at a 45 degree angle toward our fence caught in the branches of another tree close to our property line. Sometime between Wednesday and Friday morning, our phone lines went out, but our Internet service on the same line was fine.

Friday
I was expecting the piano tuner at 11:00 in the morning, but my phone is still out so he would not get through if he tried calling for directions or to tell me he would be late. I used my husband's work VOIP phone to call him and he had car trouble so he said hoped to be here around 3:00. That would cut into the time I had set aside just for me, but then I was not sure that afternoon would go as planned either.

On the last Friday of the month, a skating rink in the neighboring county has a skate just for homeschoolers. The Princess has a standing invitation with her best friend of homeschooling family in our neighborhood. Last month they did not go and they were planning to go this time but they had a snag with their own schedule so they would not know for sure until just before the time to leave. They said they would call to confirm...well, we had to resort to low tech because the phone is still out of commission and my cell phone does not do well at home, so her child got some exercise by riding her bike to our house to tell us they would be leaving at 12:30.

Saturday I finally have a working phone line. My husband is coming home, but it shall be a very late dinner for us; he will be bringing fried chicken. The Princess cleaned her room and is picking out some of the items with which she no longer plays. Then she will be trying on clothes to determine which ones will be in the consignment sales coming up. I am signed up as a seller in two of them, so I have work to do.

~ My Lord, my mind is going in too many directions. I need its swinging to stop and rest my thoughts on You. Help me to do that, please, my Lord. ~

It Could Be Seasonal

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. ~Anne Bradstreet

My husband took today off to join us on a 4-H field trip to a tack store just across the state line to Alabama. It is about an hour drive. There they plan to talk about the different types of bits and their purposes. The Princess will be using gift moneys she has been saving to buy brushes, hoof picks, and combs to make a nice grooming kit. We also plan to buy a couple of lead ropes and two halter whips, which I think is the type the trainer used in the horse clinic last for lunge training.

Last Saturday the Princess and I attended a horse clinic with the 4-H club. It was a great clinic about ground manners, loading horses onto a trailer, proper lunging, and riding stubborn and problem horses. We have some stubborn ponies and some miniatures with ground manner problems at Miss Annette's. A large part of the problem is her horses do not get worked regularly and when they do it is by a variety of children, with no horses of their own and little to no experience with horses. They love them, but do not know how to train them, so there is no consistency and way too many treats as if rewarding their bad behavior. Often these horses are being unintentionally trained to have bad behavior or to do the wrong things because of inexperience; it helps to have some insights in how to think like a horse. We have many educational clinics throughout the year for that purpose, but often the very people, who really need learn, cannot or do not attend.

The Saturday clinic was all day for just $10 per person. It was great! Some of it I knew and some of it was new to me, particularly the lunging technique he used. Quite effective as he got one pony who would only lunge in one direction to work in the opposite direction for the first time ever. However, these horses need to be worked regularly and I am thinking of starting the Princess working the easy-going minis first until she gets some confidence, while I try out more challenging ones. I would like to start this Tuesday, but school is out for our county this week and some of the other children might be coming out during the day or the borders may be there to ride their own horses, so we would not be able to do so if that is the case.

My other concern is the family I am partnered with at this time. The mother does not like the idea of any strong disciplining methods used on the horses. While her two girls were there for the clinic, the mother was not, so I do not know how she would respond to the techniques the trainer used that were quite effective. Also, Miss Annette feels that bad ground manners need to be corrected and can be dangerous for the children, so she was very pleased with what she saw and hopes that her horses would be worked in that way by the 4-H'ers. She is unable to work them herself and most of the people who work at the barn do not have horses, therefore are less experience also.

At this time, I am one of the most experienced parents without a horse coming to the stables. There are a few parents who have been feeding horses for a bit longer than I have, but they really had not been around horses much previously or don't have as much confidence with them. The family that does the Tuesday night feeding just bought a horse for their daughter so they are looking for a replacement so they can stop coming; these change-overs happen every time people get their own horses. For now I am quite content for the Princess to learn to work with a variety of horse personalities and sizes at Miss Annette's so she gains her confidence. Besides, I find it rather challenging too.

Miss Annette did mention to me on Saturday that she sees what I was talking about with the other mother, because she is still going out there on Friday nights also. Friday nights are for beginner's night, so Annette tries to come out that night when she is able. She said that she could see the mother acted afraid of her horses and I can see that Annette does not feel comfortable about them being there alone, although they did that once when the Princess and I was sick. I do not feel comfortable with them even letting the horses into the barn alone yet because every now and then the horses do a barn scramble just to make life more exciting, I guess.

The mother is very nice, but I feel that I cannot trust her in a way because her actions and abilities are not what she portrayed. Actually, I am very frustrated by the entire situation.

I am angry with myself for feeling resentment towards the mother. I believe her intentions were good, but as I stated, I feel I cannot trust what she says nor can I count on her to handle a horse when it is necessary to really handle one, if you get what I mean.

I feel saddled with extra responsibility and concern for this family because they really don't know anything about handling horses, especially horses with some ground manner problems, so I am concerned about them getting hurt. My husband says it is not my responsibility, but I feel it is and at the same time I cannot keep my attention on my own daughter to be sure about her safety, who is so easily distracted by other children.

I would rather the Princess and I work with a couple of horses at a time on the ground and that only the two of us ride so I could work on training the two ponies to behave themselves better.

I just need some patience. I know that everything is for a season. This family will be leasing horses at another barn soon and even though the mother plans to come every Tuesday morning until public school is out for the summer, she may change her mind before that time. That would be fine with me. The Princess likes having other people there, but then she goofs off more and not putting her full attention on whatever she is doing with the horses, even just grooming. Last week after working with the boy, I found my daughter crouched down polishing Mack's hoof and without any part of her body touching him; although Mack is a sweet pony, it is a very big no-no to be in that position--too easy to get stepped on or kicked--but the other mother watching her for me did not even seem to know that. Things like that concern me very much.

Personally, I am really not there to socialize with much of anyone lacking four hoofs. I really want to work on training more. I was even thinking of taking off a week of homeschooling soon and daily going out to work on their ground manners and lunging, weather permitting.

I would love to go out there twice a week instead just once a week, but that would really crimp our homeschool schedule. It would be nice to have another day to work with the horses when the weather is bad on Tuesday.

Mostly, (sigh)...I wish I could be rid of this frustration I am feeling!

~ My Lord, help me to have a more forgiving and loving heart. Help me be patient for the change of seasons in my life and to seek to please You most of all. ~

Back on the Horse - Part 3

Heaven is high and earth wide. If you ride three feet higher above the ground than other men, you will know what that means. ~Rudolf C. Binding

I talked to Miss Annette the following week to see if we could ride Molly, Mack, and Peanut and she said we could. She reminded me not to leave Molly's halter on. I told her that it was my intention to take it off last week, but Molly had intentions of her own. She told me not to let Molly get away with such things, but I was already determined to get her behave the next time and had a secret plan.

I also talked about how things had gone the week before with the other mother. Annette was a surprised as I had been. She also was under the impression that the mother was experienced and had plans to teach her children about how to train and handle horses. I thought she might be thinking I was just complaining, but instead she thanked me for telling her as she felt this was information she needed to know.

The mother asked that I specifically work with her son grooming Molly, which I agreed to do that day. We also needed to walk the minis. I was planning on handling Blue, but while I was helping clean Ribbon's hooves, another mini, she decided that three cleaned hooves were enough and tried to bite and kick me. I promptly took her out to the arena were she continued that behavior and more. I finally thought she was settling down and stopped. Then she tried to swing her backside around and kick me again...very deliberately. She was walked and walked and walked some more until she stopped.

By that time, I was a bit of a nervous wreck thinking I still had Molly to contend with as well. I asked everyone to not go into the higher pasture until I had a chance to get Molly alone. Earlier in her stall, after she had eaten, I opened an empty vial of rosemary oil essence for her to smell. She liked the smell very much. As I approached slowly her in the pasture, I made sure I was upwind of her and opened the vial again. She actually stood still and calm with ears up while I latched the lead onto her halter. She walked back to the barn easily.

The youngest girl loves Peanut but dislikes Molly and she believes Molly hates her. She reminds me of my own daughter, often saying things that she just makes up as she goes, like she is an expert mostly because she is so enthusiastic it just has to pour out of her somehow. On Saturday afternoons, the family has been going for training in judging horses' confirmation at another place so she tries but often judges Molly wrongly because of her bias. She stated Molly's ears were down and she was being aggressive when they were just back and she was alert. This time she stated that she did not think Molly could possibly be a quarter horse because they are usually a solid color and Molly is a buckskin. I tried to patiently explain that quarter horses can be any color and that my aunt had two buckskin quarter horses and one bay. If I was Molly, I think I would bare my teeth at her too.

Once Molly was in her stall, I held her lead while the boy began grooming. She is losing her winter coat so lots of hair was coming off. He had to be trained in how to groom, but was constantly afraid of her biting, which she was not trying to do at all and she could not have gotten to him even if she was of the mind to do it--I, on the other hand, was in the more vulnerable spot. She was the calmest I have ever seen her be in her stall. The boy did everything, even cleaned the hooves which was his first time. Molly took her bit and saddle easily.

I had the boy walk her in the arena while I put on Mack's bridle and cinched up the two ponies. Later we all were in the arena. The children all rode and changed their mounts. Mack and Peanut were still being stubborn, but Molly was doing well. We only walked them, although the girls did lead Peanut into a trot. They all had fun. I rode Molly, which was my first time with her and I have got to say that she is the best trained one of those three; just a shift in weight and she turns. I enjoyed riding her; many of the older 4-H members learned to ride on her. I also rode Mack to get him to respond to me and have some ideas about getting him to do better.

This week we did not ride as it was too wet and we did chores in record time. The mother told me that she is now planning to lease three well-trained horses at the other place she has been going to on Saturday afternoons for training in judging horses' confirmation. It is open to 4-H members, but our weekends are pretty busy and with my husband traveling as much as he does, it is the only time I can reasonably count on him being home and rested, so we have not gone. The mother has told me that she will keep coming on Tuesdays but they have to go the other place daily when they begin leasing. I am not so sure that will work out for them to do both. They need saddles and helmets now as well. Their grandfather is paying for the leasing of the horses as they thought they would only be able to afford leasing one. I am happy for them but....

Here is the trouble I am having...I envy them. I have given more time and effort doing the grunt work at the barn, while learning as much as I could, with only a handful of riding times for the Princess and this family who seems to have much to learn is being handed so much. I know that from now on the Princess will be riding more often whether they continue on Tuesdays or not, but I would love to do something like that for her. However, we are determined to not add anything extra until we pay down our debt. If all goes well, it should be about a year from now. Realistically, though, we need to replace the siding on the house so I am not sure if that is likely to happen then either. Part of me feels that I would like to lease a horse right now, but the other part is telling me that the Princess will continue to learn, become more experienced, and be more responsible, if it is a few years later before we would do something like that. And, maybe, God has a plan that does not involve leasing but actually owning. He plans are often bigger than mine.

~ My Lord, help me not to be envious but thankful, patient, and trusting. Your plans are far better than mine. I help me keep my faith in You. ~

Back on the Horse - Part 2

There are only two emotions that belong in the saddle; one is a sense of humor and the other is patience. ~Unknown

Now that we had another family coming to help with chores at the horse barn on Tuesday morning, I thought it would be less work, but I had to haul two 50-pound bags and fill the feed bins as her son was not there and she has a heart condition that causes her to be tired and weaker.

Now the tack has been organized and labeled, so we now can find the tack that fits each horse easily, but I wondered if I really felt confident in saddling a horse.

Now there was another woman with more experience with well-trained horses and horse training itself (besides having been a paramedic which is handy around horses), so I felt confident she would know all the things I did not about riding.

Now, finally, I felt more comfortable with the idea of letting the children ride and Miss Annette had given the okay for Molly, Mack, and Peanut to be ridden that day.

Molly is the lead mare and she lets everyone know it; she only takes a back seat to the lead gelding. Molly has been in season because it has been a warm winter, so she is moody. She is also rather aggressive when she is eating. Most of the less experienced children give her a wide berth, but when she is not pinning her ears back, stretching her neck, and showing her teeth, she is the sweetest horse. She is very well-trained and shows it with a good rider, but getting her prepared to ride can be a challenge. I fitted her halter before releasing them all to the hay, but she was not in the mood to let me catch her later in the upper pasture. In fact, I could not even get near enough to get her halter off. The Princess was very disappointed as she wanted to ride Molly, knowing she was more responsive to her rider.

Mack is an Iceland pony, which is a heavy, draft-type body. He is very easygoing but a bit stubborn, only doing what he is supposed to do with an experienced and determined rider. He will follow anyone walking or another horse, but likes to stop near the gate of the arena and not go at all.

Peanut is the smallest pony with a 100-pound rider limit. Although a bit over that, I have been on him for only a few minutes to see if he would respond to me and he will. He is another stubborn one. Originally, he was cart trained and had not had a rider, so he still is learning what is expected of him.

We need to give the horses about an hour to digest their grains before we can ride so we used that time to clean the barn, stables, and paddock areas. We also exercised the miniature horses. One of them, Blue, was acting up with the other mother. Blue gets itchy and likes to go down for a roll to scratch his back, which she allowed him to do. Usually, he then is as good a gold, but not this time. I was walking out from the barn and she told me he had just bit her on the thigh. I grabbed up his lead and walked him back out to the arena and made him walk with me three more times around, giving the lead a small jerk every time he tried to bite it. He did not try to bite me.

In fact, I have not really been bitten by a horse although we used to have one that tried often at my aunt's, so I might be more prepared mentally for such behavior. I have only been kicked once and I was so close to the horse it was more of a push and he was not trying to hurt me, but warn a young filly about hunting for milk on him. I have not been thrown, but I have been in a number of odd positions trying to hang on, all probably amusing to onlookers. The thing is that I am always on my guard with horses. I have always been taught that horses are most unpredictable when they are predictable.

Before riding there is grooming. There is only one grooming kit to share. Most everyone who works at the barn, eventually gets their own grooming kit and we will be doing that next week when we go on a 4-H field trip to a tack store. However, for that day there were three children sharing one kit, as the boy was helping his father with a plumbing job.

All went well until it came time to pick the hoofs. Since it has been wet, it is very important to clean the hoofs out. The mother asked me to help because Mack had not lifted his hoof when she tapped on the lower cannon (foreleg) area as she had done with her family's horses. Now I have to admit something here. I do know how to clean the hoof, but I have not done one since I was a teenager and then my cousin was the one who handled most of the hoof cleaning. So, in reality, I have had very little experience with getting horses to lift their hooves, but the Princess and I attended a field trip to a farrier's school last year that was very informative and I paid close attention. I just ran my hand down the length of the leg as I had seen done and up came Mack's large hoof. I ended up doing all four of his and Peanut's also.

The family grabbed the saddles, placed them on the ponies, and then asked me to help because the mother did not know how to cinch them, which in most cases requires what we call the 7-11 knot but it may be known be other names. In any case, she was unfamiliar with it and that really surprised me. I began to wonder just how they used to cinch the saddles on their horses.

At this point, I am practically in a daze because I had talked to this woman a few times on the phone and she just seemed so self-confidence but I just did not see it in action. The three girls shared the two ponies with us mothers walking beside or in front of them so the ponies would follow. I rode Mack a short time to see if he would do what I wanted without any leading and he did.

We finished up, cleaned up, put everything away, and left. It was about 12:30 pm and I am so thankful that I have given us ample time on our homeschool schedule because after running an errand, we both showered and had a late lunch. I was really tired and the next day, I was quite sore, like I had done a gym workout. That being my fasting day did not make any better, but I recovered mostly by Thursday.

I should have called Miss Annette that day to let her know how things went, but I was still in a state of disbelief. I realized that I was far more comfortable and self-confident than I thought I was, mostly because I had to be. Ah, but there is more....

~ My Lord, thank you for showing me that I am capable of doing more than I thought I could with the horses. ~

Back on the Horse - Part 1

The daughter who won't lift a finger in the house is the same child who cycles madly off in the pouring rain to spend all morning mucking out a stable. ~Samantha Armstrong

About a month ago another homeschool family joined the Princess and me on Tuesday morning at Miss Annette's 4-H Horse Barn. They had joined the 4-H Club in the middle of December and had been going out on Friday nights, as I had started to do a year ago and continued through the summer. In August, I went to Wednesday mornings and then changed to Tuesday mornings in October, which was the ideal morning for our schedule.

Difficulties arise in finding a replacement for us when the unforeseen happens and we cannot fulfill our obligation. Miss Annette used to do Tuesday mornings herself, but her schedule has changed as well and it is not convenient for her to do so now. There are only so many homeschool families that can take mornings and of the ones we have not all of them want a morning. Still, I was torn about the idea of having another family out there with us on Tuesdays until I talked to the mother, a very sweet woman with two girls about my daughter's age and a teenage boy. It seemed like a good fit especially because she seemed to have more experience with horses than I have had, although she admitted to not have been around them since she was a teenager, again much like me.

The lady seemed so knowledgeable and organized also that I was excited for the Princess that she may learn more on handling horses with this family coming, even though she told me her own children had no real experience with horses. The first day, they arrived just minutes before us and opened the barn to allow the horses into their stalls before the Princess and I could walk to the barn. Most of the people with which I have worked in the past there wait until the other group arrives and do it that together. It concerned me a bit because they are newer and I felt responsible for training them as I was not sure of their familiarity with these horses. On Friday nights at the barn there could be a number of families and more children than horses. It was difficult for my daughter to get any time with the horses, so I was not sure how much experience this family had gotten in just a month.

On the other hand, I thought to myself as I approached the barn, maybe they were just very confident and were more experienced than I thought. I mean, I had spent some time on the phone with the mother and she seemed to have definite ideas about training and handling horses. Actually, I may have felt a bit knocked off my high horse, so to speak, because she seemed so much more experienced than I ever was. Her family had a farm with well-trained working horses to help them run it. Maybe she is the take charge type and I should just be open to learning from her.

When I got to the barn the first thing I noticed besides the horses were all in their own stalls and had not acted up this time, as they are known to do especially with inexperienced people, was that the lights were not on. In the evenings, the lights are usually not needed because of the angle of the sun but they are usually needed in the winter mornings, even more so when it is dark and rainy morning as it was that day. I suspected that the family did not know where the light switches were, which made me a bit concerned about what else they might not know about the barn.

The first thing we are to do when we get to the barn is read Miss Annette's white board for special instructions. Sometimes there is a change in hay feeding or medicines need to be administered or one horse or pony needs to be kept separate from the others or to remind the children the limits on treats...just things like that. On Friday evenings there are so many families that such routines may go unnoticed by the newbie, because someone else already did it and has passed the instructions along verbally. I asked the family, as they were on their way to the feed room, if they had read the white board before allowing the horses into the barn...and was met with blank stares, as I suspected might be the case. I know it takes some time to get used to the barn routine and to find where everything is, particularly when you are on your own, so then I took point and just continued with the chores as the Princess and I usually do, teaching the new family along the way as if starting from square one.

The feed room has everything labeled well: Which horses get how much of a scoop of which feed. One mini is allergic to hay and must get a special feed. A couple of the older ones get supplements for joints. We even have a colored bucket system so that each horse or groups of minis have their own color. That way, when there are a number of children, they can each take a bucket or two and know which horse to feed. It works well.

Then there is checking the water. Does it need filled or dumped, cleaned and refilled? Taking hay to the upper pasture for when we release the large horses and ponies from the barn. I like to clean the barn, stables, and paddock areas while the horses are grazing on hay, but on rainy days the paddock usually does not get cleaned up.

That is all we did on the first time. The second time, the weather was very nice, sunny and cool, so everyone wanted to ride and that is when it got...interesting.

~ My Lord, some changes are never easy even when they are good and make things easier. Help me to be more accepting of changes. ~

Fasting, Horses, Errands, and Homeschooling

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
~Philippians 4:13

What do fasting, horses, errands, and homeschooling all have in common? My Wednesdays!

This picture could be me on any given Wednesday--minus the red pumps.

Wednesday is my weekly fasting day. I began this habitual fast in January of 2008. Yes, that means I have been doing it for nearly four years. Only on rare occasions have I switched my fasting day because of some very special event. I picked Wednesday because Thursdays are my errand day and I would be so tired on the hour (or more, depending on traffic) drive home after the Princess' piano lesson that I was fighting to stay awake the closer I got to home.

You are probably wondering what one has to do with the other. When I begin eating after a fast, I have quite a bit more energy and so I chose to fast on Wednesday so I would have more energy on Thursday.

Yes, it works!

However,...Wednesday is no longer a quiet hump day with homeschooling and preparation for tomorrow's errands. It is working at the horse barn in the morning and homeschooling in the afternoon.

Working at the horse barn starts with
      bringing the large horses into the barn;
      feeding them in their stalls;
      feeding the miniature horses in their paddocks;
      taking hay out to the back pasture;
      filling the water basins as needed
      or draining them to scrub and refill;
      spraying the horses to guard them against flies;
      letting them out of the barn;
      cleaning the stalls as needed;
      spraying the stalls for flies:
      and feeding Tucker, the dog.

The food bins have needed to be filled nearly every Wednesday, which means that I haul, using a wheelbarrow over uneven ground, 100 to 150 pounds of feed nearly every week and then lift each 50 pound bag to fill the bins, but thankfully today I did not have to do that as they were full for the first time in weeks.

With one sick mini we also have to administer medicine by mouth and wet his hay so the dust from it does not irritate his lungs and place him in one stall when it is hot with fans on.

Then we clean up the paddock of the deposits, which usually takes about three to four wheelbarrows filled, to be dump on the manure pile. This last part is not something that we have to do but it is a good thing to do and the place looks nicer. Only a few other barn helpers do it, but it would be easier if everyone did.

After this I sometimes make a run to get raw milk at the farm just a bit further out, as I did today. Sometimes I fill up our empty water jugs at the local Koger, as I also did today. Sometimes I fill the gas tank so I will not have that to do tomorrow and I did that today too.

Sometimes I do too much.

Sometimes I think that I should not fast on Wednesday with the horse barn thing and I would move the horse barn time to Tuesday morning in a heartbeat if there was someone to take Wednesday morning. However, if I do not fast on Wednesday, I fall asleep driving home on Thursday afternoon.

Perhaps I am just a bit overtired today. I suppose it would have been a better day if I had not awaken at 3:00 AM to stay awake for nearly two hours.

Because my drive drove away without me today, I cut homeschool lessons to the barest minimum: piano, math lesson, and classical writing/grammar. I could have/should have/would have blown off the entire afternoon, but my daughter was eager to get through her lessons today and I will use that anytime I can get it, even when I much rather have a nap.

Now it is nearly 6:30 PM and I am at an entire loss about dinner, which I will not be even eating. My husband is working in a place where his cell phone does not work, so I have not a clue when he will be home, but most likely not for dinner, so I now have to begin the feeding of dog, inside cat, outside kittens, rabbits, and the Princess.

I really am going to get up out of this chair,
   turn off my computer,
      stop whining,
         and just do it.


Really I am.

~ My Lord, there are times I just want to give up and today was one of those times, but I thank you for them because they remind me that You are my strength. ~

What Have I Been Doing?

When you are through changing, you are through.
~Bruce Barton

You may have noticed I have not been posting much on my blog. It seems that when life gets busy, writing about what I am doing or just what is on my mind gets pushed aside, but I always have much on my mind about which to talk and type...always...much, too much. So, I decided to take a breather and dump some of these things out of my mind and onto my blog.

This past week we adapted to changes in schedules and homeschooling.

I changed our 4-H barn time from Friday night to Wednesday mornings. Usually one or two other families work at the barn on Friday night so it would not cause a problem. My husband has been traveling a bit more lately and it is not uncommon for him to come home on Friday evening and, since it is his travel day, his company will pay for his meals. This makes for an excellent opportunity for us to go out to eat together as the Princess and I can easily split an entrée and usually we go where I have a discount coupon to save us and his company some money. However, it has been difficult to do when we have worked at the barn for about two hours and need a shower. I have been too tired and a bit sick from the heat of late after the barn work. Now that I am familiar enough with the barn, the Princess and I can handle the morning feeding and if it is really nice and cool, as the climate will be changing in that direction soon, she can ride also. The problem will be to get her to engage with her lessons for the afternoon when we get back home and we did have a problem with that this week, so there is going to be an adjustment period.

For that very reason, I was hoping to take Tuesday morning at the barn instead because then our homeschool schedule could be heavier on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with lighter days on Tuesday and Thursday space out nicely just like a sequential would like. However, that did not work out as I hoped with the barn schedule, so Monday, Tuesday and Friday are the heavy days with Wednesday and Thursday being lighter. Thursday has always been piano lessons, grocery shopping, and errands.

I looked over our homeschooling materials and decided that it was time to do a few things differently and to do some things I had hoped to do but never seemed to fit in on a regular basis. I feel the Princess can take a bit more personal responsibility for some of her assignments so I organized the Trapper Keeper she has been begging for us to use since we got it over a year ago. Now her daily math worksheets are in place sectioned by days of the week. She has two week long assignments: One is her Beautiful Feet History of the Horse, which I use as her read aloud lesson for now and it has other work that she can do independently. The second is a state using Study Starters as she is studying one state each week in the order that they became states. (We might spend a week or two extra on Georgia since we live here and other states in which we have family.)

Math has been the problem. Every day after she practices piano for nearly an hour, we begin on math and, unless I am sitting right next to her, she can get very ADD on it, taking two hours with what should take about 30 minutes. I have been praying about this and I felt I needed to go back to my original plan. We do triangle flashcards, multiplication and division number families right now, for five minutes and this is to help her memorize her math facts. Then she is given a drill worksheet from Calculadder that she is supposed to do under so many minutes. This week we started back at the beginning, because the purpose is not to challenge her but to train her to focus and pick up her speed. Then she is to begin her math workbook and worksheets, which presently are a mixture of Signapore and Miquon. It worked well this week. She was so surprised that she could do all her math in just 30 to 40 minutes each day. (I just knew she could.)

We slowed up a bit during the summer on Greek and Latin, but we are picking up the pace now. She really likes languages. We are adding French back into lessons, while driving on Thursday, since the minivan I use now has a CD player. She will also do some of her week long assignments in the van on that day. I am thinking of adding a word a day for hand signing also...maybe another index card system? Now she is asking to add Spanish also and I have one program that is a good starter, but I just was not sure how many languages she could handle at one time...perhaps I am more concerned about how many I could juggle! (And I am still hoping that she will tackle Hebrew when she is a bit older too.)

For Language Arts, I mix various sources. She likes the Daily Buzzword for her vocabulary and writes it along with a description in her own words on an index card each day. I use some of them for her spelling also. I still do my own spelling lists on an index card system. She gets a few minutes to look over her lists and phonics rules before I quiz her on a rule or two and give her a test of twelve words. When she gets any wrong, she is to go write them on her Magna Doodle several times and then come back to hand sign them to me. For grammar, I have been using a sentence diagramming workbook mostly, but this week I cracked open Classical Writing again and even though I think there are a number of grammar errors in the model, the program is pretty good. It has assignments for each day and she is liking it for now. I began setting up an index card system using Harvey's Elementary Grammar and Composition.

History and science have been pushed to the wayside most of the year because of the math issue, and these are subjects she really likes. Now she sees that we can actually have time to do both and she is excited about that. However, it is not that she missed out learning history or science in the last year. When we went to the library more often, I used to require that she check out three books of her choosing, but one needed to be about a person, another a place, and the third a science. Although this is a bit too freestyle for me, being sequential, it worked quite well for her, being a random, and I learned that I do not have to control every aspect of her curriculum quite so tightly. I will probably use that method again as a break.

I need to prepare for the entire week each weekend and print out her schedule using Homeschool Tracker, with adjustments for dentist appointments and consignment sale volunteering and the like, but I am definitely feeling less pressure because it is better organized and she will know exactly what she should be doing.

My husband is away for the weekend this time in hopes that he will get comp days for next weekend for our anniversary. I had plans for the Princess this weekend so it worked out fine. The Princess and I now are about to begin the preparing for the consignment sales, which means she will be trying on all her fall and winter clothes to see which no longer fit. She does not like this ritual so I usually allow her to pick a DVD to watch as she changes clothes and set the air conditioner just a degree lower for her comfort.

~ My Lord there is always so much to do and so much more that could be done, but I thank you for showing me ways to make better use of our time and help my daughter to learn to focus when working on math. I continue to pray it will make both of us happier daily. ~

Just Horsing Around

Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from any direction. ~ Cowboy saying

Do you remember Duke and his escapades? Well, at Miss Annette's we have three large horses that like to horse around when coming in to the barn to eat and be sprayed to protect them from fly bites. Senoya has the first stall on the left, but she likes to go for a stroll in the barn just to see the other stalls, although she does not usually go into them. Hammer, the largest and sweetest of the horses, (at least he is sweet on me) is the newest and sometimes gets confused about where he is supposed to go, although he should know by now and may just seem lost because he likes the attention. Then there is Duke....

Duke purposely goes into a stall next to his, which is where an Iceland pony called Mack is already. He did this last Friday and I went into the stall to walk Duke out. Determined to stay, Duke put himself against the far wall, which made Mack have to back up and that was towards me. Mack is easy-going, but any equine can get annoyed when crowded by another horse in his own stall and the way he backed up suggested to me that he might be of a mind to kick.

Now here is the problem. If you are really close to a horse, he cannot get enough power behind his kick and you just get a strong push and maybe a bit of a bruise. If you are far enough away, you are out of the kick zone. Unfortunately, I was neither. I was in the perfect kick zone.

I backed up quickly out of the stall to get out of that kick zone and, in so doing, tripped over the lip at the bottom of the stall door. I fell down in a sitting position onto my behind on the right and then back to scrape my left elbow just a bit. Right then I was thinking how I wish Miss Annette had not laid the bricks paving the barn walk just a couple of weeks before and I had landed on the previous dirt floor. Thankfully, I had no serious injuries, but with my history of back problems I was concerned about how it would affect me later. I remember thinking "Well, my Lord, I knew injuries were likely to happen around horses and I have prayed that if all this has Your blessing that You will protect us from serious injury, particularly my daughter's piano hands."

First things first. I walked back in to get Mack out of the stall and then we had room to get Duke out and to his stall next door. All was well.

When I got home an hour or so later, I put arnica cream on the injury and did some other things later on before bedtime that are too involved to described right now, expecting to have a flare up with my back that could take weeks to calm down, but hoping I would not. The next morning, I had only a bit of tightness in my traps and upper back that was gone with just a bit of arnica cream.

Isn't God just the greatest?

Today I have a bit a soreness only if I sit a particular way so all is well enough. Today is Friday and we are going back to the barn late in the afternoon. Today I am determined the horses will not get the better of me with who goes to which stall.

Well, it is a plan. We shall see how that goes.

~ Thank you, my Lord, for protecting me, even in my own foolishness, from serious injury. ~

It All Started with a Horse

Let me 'splain.
[pause]
No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
~Inigo Montoya in Princess Bride, 1987

I am writing as fast as I can because I have this really merciful gift of forgetting the details of bad things that happen by the next morning, so I am sure that I am only writing the highlights of what I remember, believe it or not!

Friday April 29th
Friday evenings we have been going to the Miss Annette's to help feed horses and clean the barn and generally do whatever Miss Annette needs to be done. Last weekend we were to have a 4-H Work Day on Saturday, but Miss Annette never passes up the opportunity to begin a job early so she started us all Friday evening. My husband worked with other men preparing to put up new fencing. Began I walking and clearing the fence line of the back pasture of growth and found the breaks and grounds of the electric fence, which would explain why one horse in particular was escaping earlier that week.

Saturday April 30th
Saturday people were assigned all kinds of jobs from putting new fencing and repairing old fencing to cleaning the barn bathroom and moving items up to the loft from out a room to be used as the new larger tack room and making signs for the Spring Fling the next weekend (which was this weekend...but we are not there yet). Anyway, I worked on finishing what I had begun the night before all alone in the back pasture with gloves and clippers enjoying the sounds of nature. I guess Miss Annette thought I was more than capable of handling it all by myself. I was thinking that I should have been somewhat sore from the work I did the night before, but I was not. I was not sore that night either, tired but not sore. In fact, oddly, I have been stronger than I ever remember being since I was a teenager--no kidding! I think it has something to do with just being around the horses. Anyway, I finished and did some cleaning of chairs and started the children on the signs and we ended up being there all day...all day with another all day commitment for the next coming weekend, which was this weekend.

Tuesday May 3rd
Tuesday was the 4-H awards ceremony. The Princess was thrilled to get a larger trophy this year because I actually kept track of the points for when we volunteer time (and all the other things) and we volunteered quite a bit of time this past year.

Thursday May 5th
My husband birthday is exactly one week after the birthday of the Princess. Only was this my errand day and he worked really late, so we planned to celebrate the next evening. Plans are such funny things!

Friday May 6th
The real excitement started on this Friday night. A trainer came to work with one teenage girl and her boarded horse, Duke. He is a large horse, newer to the barn, but generally good-natured. Apparently, though, Duke is a bit on the nervous side about certain things. The trainer worked with a pole that she would use to eventually tap the horse. He is supposed to stand his ground with his rider, but Duke, even after a few training sessions with it, has not yet made peace with that pole. He took a step back, but eventually he stood in place while she tapped him on various places. Although I was busy in the barn, I would look over from time to time and see him shiver with nervousness, but he did well. Then there is an exercise where they place a shirt on the pole. The rider is supposed to take the shirt off one pole and ride up to place it on another. Duke just did not like that idea at all and the rider was down on the ground right after she took the shirt from the pole. The girl was all right with just some bruising and scraps. The trainer calmed Duke and began to use the shirt around him to the point she lightly waved it over to touch him on various places on his body. Again, I could see Duke was tense, even more tense than before, but he stood his ground.

Then I was up by the house and had a bad advantage point so I did not see what happened later. I also am not a trainer, but my aunt trained horses for a mounted women's police group and they could put firecrackers under the horse without it bolting...eventually. I learned much from her, but some of it is just what my grandfather called "good ol' horse sense." I have been raised to appreciate there is a delicate balance in training between challenging a horse and giving him time to get comfortable with something he fears. It is a special relationship and even a good trainer can be surprised by a horse's reaction, but still.... Seeing the building tension in Duke, I would not have done the thing she did next, which was tie on a plastic bag of rocks on his saddle with no rider. This not only makes a get deal of scary, noisy sounds behind the ears of horse, which tends to make them want to bolt, but if he does take off, they hit him on the sides and back as well, which keep him going.

Off went Duke...really off! He jumped the fencing of the inner arena and was out with the other horses, who had not been put out to the back pasture. Then the herd of horses together did what herds do when frightened, which in this case was to run in a frenzy around the outer paddock. My daughter and some other girls, who were in that paddock, were grabbed and pulled into the arena by another mother. At this point I can only see dust but others saw the previous week's fence escape artist, Senoya, a boarded mare owned by another 4-H'er who was there, had decided not to jump the wire fence between them and the miniature horses paddock, but she was too committed and could not stop. She fell into and over the fence, breaking it down and two mini's joined the herd. Senoya got up and was back running with the herd also with Duke's bag of rocks slapping him and making a great deal of noise.

Now there is a danger having miniature horses in with large ones. They can get trampled or kicked in the head, so Miss Annette, a 4'9" woman with bad knees and hips, was working her way to the minis trying not to get trampled in the process herself and I was right behind her knowing that she was determined to separate them from the four large horses and two ponies. Finally the two minis and one pony split off on the opposite side of the arena of the rest on their own. One teen grabbed one mini and Miss Annette, who was smart enough to grab a lead rope before she went into the paddock, got the other. The one mini was not not in the mood to be held and I walked quickly to get a lead for the teen. During that time my husband cut the bag of rocks off Duke's saddle with his pocket knife while the trainer held him.

With horses now standing still and breathing hard, everyone was in the paddock accessing them for cuts and scraps, which thankfully were fairly minor. The three injured horses, including Duke, were brought into their stalls. With the girls holding and talking softly to them, I sprayed every injury with an antiseptic. Duke was last and he was still quite tense, but he allowed the doctoring with only a couple of hoof stomps and nervous snorts. He was also given oral antibiotic, because of the three he had the worst injuries.

My husband, in the meantime, had begun work on the fence as Miss Annette's husband was quite ill in bed and could not. This required pulling a fence pole back over and reshaping wire. I dug out the broken cement and he cemented the based of the wooden post.

With all calm and repaired we went home to what was supposed to be my husband's birthday dinner. I was in a hurry as it was so late. I turned on the oven as I began throwing together my homemade pizzas, one white sauce and one tomato with ground beef, as he requested while he and the Princess fed the rabbits. Eventually, I opened the oven to find...the remainder of the Princess' birthday cake and the partially melted plastic container it was in--No, I am not kidding! I had put it in there to keep safe as it would not fit in the refrigerator and we planned to have it that night, but since it was 9:30 PM before we began eating, that was unlikely anyway. A bit of the icing had dripped down to the bottom of the oven and, as I was cooking the pizzas, it began smoking. I could just see how adding our fire alarm going off would complete the evening, so we opened windows which was all the invitation a few flying bugs needed.

My husband also showed me the handle of a rather expensive paring knife that was in with the cake had some melted areas, but it can still be smoothed out and used, but I was sick about it. This one being a replacement of one that I accidentally threw away with a pizza box some years before.

At that point, I just gave up and just tried to eat my dinner thankfully. My husband, seeing I was at the end of my rope for the day, decided to clean up the oven himself--isn't he sweet? While looking for oven cleaner that I did not even think I had because I rarely use anything besides a good scrubber, he found that water had been leaking under the sink from the connection to the dish washer, the one that is still broken and currently in our garage. He turn it off and pulled things out to dry. After that bit of news, I just pulled the covers over my head in my bed. Actually, we all went to bed as soon as we could because the next day, which was yesterday, we were to be at the 4-H Spring Fling early to set up.

Saturday May 7th
I face painted all day, except for a short time to relieve my husband from supervising the horse and pony ride while he ate during a break in business at my own booth. Duke was not brought but the other two large horses that were injured had been and Senoya probably should not have been as she seem uneasy, but we had no incidents there.

We went back to help Annette pack everything away and feed the horses. Then we went home to have clean up and have dinner. With two showers down and the washing machine working, I decided to hold off my shower until after dinner to be assured of having hot water. We have leftover pizza and the twice baked cake, as the Princess called it, which had a crusty icing that my husband liked. It would take the prize for being the ugliest cake with melted icing blobs off the cake, but the cake itself was still moist--if you can believe it! Anyway, it went well with ice cream.

So, I finally get my turn in a nice relaxing shower and I begin thinking about tomorrow being Mother's Day and then...it dawns on me...the Princess and I were expected at the church right then for the Mother and Daughter Tea. I took a deep breath and resigned to we were not even going to try to make it, even though I really had wanted to go. The past week had been rather busy with 4-H stuff and I was tired. We all fell asleep early and my husband's sunburn looked like he might have a touch of sun poisoning.

Sunday May 7th
Well, we all made it to church and all the mothers received the nicest little notepad to stick in our purses; I so appreciated that. The Princess also made a present of hugs and kisses: the hugs being an outline of her hands attached to the outside of a quart canning jar filled with Hershey chocolate kisses, which I also greatly appreciated the jar and the chocolate as I never have enough of either one.

We stopped at Publix to get a fried chicken dinner as they are so much more reasonable than fast food chicken and tastier. We saw a teenager working there, who used to come to our church but goes to a larger one now and she had been on a short missionary trip recently. She was standing with an icing tube to help children decorate heart cakes for their mothers. We were not planing on another cake, but it was small and the Princess had fun doing it with her. The day's plans were to watch a DVD, mostly likely Avatar for the first time, with my feet up and have popcorn later on, as working outside would not have been good for my husband anyway.

Those, folks, were just some parts of my crazy week. There was more, but I am too exhausted to type it and the memory of all the bad stuff is mercifully fading...except that one thing: My husband put in a different memory card for our camera and told me the camera was already for me to use to get face painting pictures, but then it kept saying it needed formatted and would not let me format it so no pictures. He rarely messes up like that, but when he does...but in a day or two I probably will forget it also...he hopes.

~ My Lord, I am very thankful no one, including the horses, were seriously injured this week and that my husband was there to repair the fence. ~

Horses Don't Have Hands

There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man. ~Winston Churchill

For the last several weeks we have been helping at the farm owned by Miss Annette, the leader of the 4-H Horse and Pony Club. She is boarding a few horses along with her own. She has some miniature horses, a couple of ponies, and four regular sized horses--and when I say regular sized, two of the newest are quite large, actually the size of horse I am more used to. The other family that goes to the farm also at 4:30 in the afternoon on Fridays are new to horses and do well with the feeding instructions, but the mother is not that comfortable with getting the larger horses in and out of their stalls.

One of the mares, who knows better, went past her own stall to take a stroll in the barn, while another of the newer large horses came in and was in her way to get back to her stall. The other mother looked concerned and unsure of what to do. Not a problem. I just grabbed and turned the wayward walker around the corner and turned her back around toward her stall after the other was happily in his own. The other mother looked so relieved and said she was thankful that I was there. What was cool to me is that I did not even give it a thought, I just instinctively knew what to do, although I have not been around horses that much since I was a teenager. I guess you just do not forget certain things.

On Saturday, the Princess and I went to a farrier's school with the some other 4-H members. We were expecting about thirty, but the number dwindled down to five children and three adults. One possible reason was that we had some pretty severe storms go through, the third of these in three weeks, some areas with heavy lightning, hail larger than golf balls, high winds, and even tornadoes. (Somehow the worse cells seem to break apart when they approach our specific area and our property has not been damaged, but others have been less fortunate.)

A farrier, for those who may not know, is someone who trims the hoofs and shoes horses. There is much more to it than it sounds. A well-trained farrier can custom mold a shoe to correct the horse's walk, help heal injuries, and reduce the risk of injuries to the legs and hoofs. Then there is working with the horse so that you are not injured yourself while shoeing the horse.

One of the things I found quite appealing about it, besides just being around horses and ensuring their health, it is one of the few remaining trade professions that is not regulated and is learned the old fashion way by apprenticeship or through privately-owned schools. The owner of the school we visited, Casey & Son Horseshoeing School, told of a $500,000 horse with which he worked for eighteen months to correct his hoofs and gait, afterward the horse won a couple of races and became worth $5.5 million.

This school does a bit more. It even has a treadmill for horses! Not to work them, but to study their gait. It really is worth watching some of the videos on their website.

The Princess was called upon to train a horse not to follow her as she stepped away from a horse while holding the lead rope. The horse was only supposed to walk toward her when she pulled the lead rope just enough that it applied some pressure. There was also much discussion on horse body language within the herd and how horses respond to pressure. It was explained that horses do not really understand hands because they don't have them, so they often do not respond the way we want them to when we are using our hands. The Princess wrote the following report which she submitted for the 4-H newsletter:

Horses Don't Have Hands

Saturday we went to a farrier's school. There we learned that horses don't have hands and that you have to use body language with horses. We learned how to reward a horse, and how to punish a horse, and the way the horse knows he's being rewarded or punished. You rub their neck for reward and tap their shoulder for punishment.

If the horse is in the way or squishing you, don't use your hands to push him over. If you lean on him, he'll lean on you. What you do is shove him over by putting your hands on the wall and shoving him over with your back, which is saying "Get out of the way!"

I was pleased, as I listened, at how well my aunt had taught me. We always started where the horse could see you and feel your touch before traveling the length of the horse with your body along his all the way back and down to the back hoof. Although I was taught how to evaluate a horse, I never had to use it because I knew my aunt's horses well, but for a farrier who only sees a horse once every six weeks, it is a very important thing to do. To evaluate a horse for it tendency to kick, a simple rope is swung around its eyes and then over its neck to lightly slapping its back, and wrapping around its legs. A rope is also used to train the horse to lift his legs for you when you bring your hand down the leg toward the hoof. I remember us doing the same, but it was so many years ago and yet it is coming back to me the more I am around horses again.

~ My Lord, keep us safe as we work with horses and may we do it often...and some riding would be very nice as well. ~

Not My Typical Week

I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.
~John Burroughs

~ Monday ~
I went to one bank to pay our mortgage in person. For days, I had been checking our bank account online to if my husband's paycheck from the new company had been direct deposited, but it had not. However, we did get it later in the mail--YAY! I was very happy, but I would have to go back out in the afternoon to another bank to deposit it, because it would be a few days in clearing. While out, I thought I would stop into the grocery store near the bank to see if they had any markdowns in organics and specials on natural ice cream where I get an entire container for the price of a double dip of the less natural types at the shops.

While in that grocery store, after I had removed our ice cream selection from the freezer and placed them into my cart, I ran into another homeschool/4-H mother and we talked for about 30 minutes during which time she gave me her phone number...again (I think this makes the third time I have had to ask for it.) As we talked I asked if she would be feeding and caring for the horses on Friday evening at the Sweet Beulahland Farm. This is the farm owned by Miss Annette, the leader of the 4-H Horse and Pony club. I have wanted to take part in this activity for the past year, but just usually did not have a vehicle or money or time as that is near the time I am leaving to pick up my husband at the airport. She said she would be there so we finally parted, I with much softer ice cream by then, planning to see each other the next evening at the 4-H meeting. I placed the ice cream in a cooler and stopped at a dollar store on the way home to pick up baskets and candy for the 4-H community project, which only took a few minutes.

~ Tuesday ~

The March 4-H meeting is always a long one. The meeting included two presentations, which are required of participating older members, and then a tackiest prom queen and king contest where the children are judged by ages. After adjournment, the children prepared the Easter baskets to be given out at a nearby children's home.

My daughter picked out her own outfit for the contest, I only made suggestions about mismatching her footwear and fixing her hair into four ponytails and a braid with the part of one ponytail pulled over into another and lots of hair loose in various areas. Frankly, I thought there were too many others far tackier than she, but the Princess won third place for her age group!

~ Wednesday ~
I fast on Wednesdays, homeschool, and prepare for the next days errands and so this was a more typical day for this not so typical week. However, I decided to fast for a few more days as my weight had risen just above that mark that I promised myself was to be my limit from now on after losing the weight during the 40-day fast six months ago.

~ Thursday ~
Now the one thing I can say about Thursdays is that they are never typical, especially when I am fasting. Errands differ as necessary. I had looked online for all the specials in organics and checked the sales flyers. Good thing too because when I arrived at my favorite co-op grocery store they had not yet placed all the sales tags. This causes me to take more time at the register trying to be sure the sale items were in the system and then for us to try to figure out if the selected variety I wanted is in the "selected varieties" on sale as they are not listed in the flyer.

Then it is practically across the street, a very busy street, to another much larger organic/natural foods chain store for natural meat and a few items that I cannot get at the other place and fewer that are cheaper there.

After driving about forty minutes to get to those stores, I then drive another thirty minutes to Miss Trudy's for the Princess' piano lesson. On the way home I stop in at the bank to make a withdraw since my husband's paycheck cleared--YAY!

~ Friday ~
When I awoke yesterday, I tried to shake off two disturbing dreams I had during an less than restful night, which I tend to have when fasting. This the third day of the fast and it is always the worse one.

I began making another batch of granola in my slow cooker early, still trying out my own recipes. Once the Princess was up, dressed, and beds were made, we went out to feed the rabbits. It was a colder day because of the wind so I did not disturb the babies.

The Princess and I set aside the morning for her to write a poem for a children's talent contest hosted by our church's district. The Princess entered four categories: witing - poetry, solo instrumental - piano (the Bach piece she was recently judged on), visual arts - drawing, and visual arts - painting. The poem needed to be submitted with a post date no later than yesterday and so she wrote a poem that I will post later after the judging. I am now irritated with myself that I did not make a copy of it, because it was in her own handwriting with a drawing at the bottom. I only made her rewrite about three times because, although she loves to write, it is not always as neatly as I would like and I know she can do, especially for something like this.

She was sure happy to have it done at lunch time and so was I!

Because the weather report looked as if it would be raining all weekend and we had to go to the post office to send out her entry, I decided we should get our water refills at a store along the way instead of waiting until after church on Sunday.

Why not also get my raw milk because we have less than half a gallon left? We can fit that in before we go to Sweet Beulahland Farm, which is halfway on the way back home, where we will be helping with Miss Annette's horses.

Now since we are going to the farms, I should call the another homeschool/4-H mother who I ran into in a store earlier this week (when I was also out depositing my husband's first paycheck with the new company--YAY!) because I know she likes to get the milk but has not been able to afford to go out there and she will be bringing her children to feed the horses too.

I call using my headset on my phone—What a wonderful invention!—so my hands are free to break up the granola in the slow cooker and get it into a container. Yes, she would like a gallon of milk. We talked a bit and somehow she mentioned that she loves sourdough bread but lost her starter some time ago. I have some starter if you would like. "That would be wonderful! Uh-oh, Miss Annette is calling me." Call me back to let me know if there is a change about going to her place but soon as I am going to leave in just a few minutes. Poor Miss Annette has a migraine and is very sick with it, so we will have to care for the horses ourselves without her supervision. Of course, because I am a chatty person, I end up leaving half an hour later than I hoped to and feel rushed.

As we drive to our destinations, we see more things are blooming now than just daffodils, like the pear trees, forsythia, red bud tees, and pink magnolias! We make it to the store first and then the post office both not having long lines, thankfully, with plenty of time to get our milk. I see father and son, both who work the farm with a few hands. After I had gone into their little unmanned store to get the first two of eight gallons of milk and noticing there are no eggs, I see the father walking up with smiles. Last time I was here, I paid for eggs and then forgot to take them with me. He laughs..."That is how we make our money! They are cleaning eggs right now, would you like a dozen?" Thank you! The son comes out and asks when was the last time we were there. A few weeks ago at least. "We have baby sheep," he says as he is pointing to the petting barn where they have tours. The Princess is off like a shot. Hey, where's your jacket?

The wind has picked up, especially out in the open on the farms. We arrived at Sweet Beulahland Farm a bit early and have to wait about twenty minutes, so I read the beginning of a chapter book about a girl and her horse that the Princess brought with her purchased at Goodwill a few weeks ago with her own spending money. She decides to anxiously look out the window. After two other families arrive, the children fed and watered the horses, cleaned the stalls, and played in the back field while the adults retreated out of the wind into the barn. I fitted a new halter on one mare because the children were to short to do it.

Time to leave! Milk was exchanged for the cost and the sourdough starter was given. Then we came home to unpack Dragon Heart (the name of the newest vehicle) and put water on shelves in the garage and milk in the freezer. Then it is time to feed rabbits, dog, and cat. For dinner, a warming soup is appealing. Then some time to look on the Internet for a program my husband needs but I find out, after three long time-wasting attempts, it is too big to email to him.

So...after feeding and placing my sourdough starter, we are off to bed half an hour early as we are getting up a half and hour earlier to prepare for the time change next weekend.

~ Saturday ~
It is still in the works but so far....

I am still fasting but my energy has returned. I should have mentioned that except for Wednesday, my regular fast day each week and usually water only, this is a fast like I did for the forty day one so I am still drinking teas and some watered down milk.

I made and kneaded my sourdough to bake a loaf later today. Great day for baking when it is damp!

To my surprise, I was greeted by a pair of eyes in the bunny nest! They are now nine days old and typically they begin opening their eyes around the tenth day. So far only two of the larger baby rabbits have opened their eyes and are lifting those tiny ears. They are all well covered with white fur now. A few are still on the puny side, but they are healthy and active, so it all looks very good in our rabbitry.

Then I began to write a post for my blog, which is taking me longer than I hoped, as I had forgotten how much we did this week. Now I need to get pictures done yet too to post and send in an email to my husband. As soon as I am done with the pictures, I suppose you will see my post. I have a big project I have been working on also, but I do not want to give it away, just in case my husband peeks in here because it is supposed to be a surprise, but it will not be a good one if I do not get back to working on it right now. On the other hand, I have been hanging out at my computer hoping to catch a Skype call from my husband as we did not talk yesterday at all. It's time to knead some dough, too.

~ Sunday? ~
Oh, and the weather experts changed their forecast. It rained some Friday night and sprinkled Saturday morning, but Sunday is going to be mostly sunny, they are saying now, so I could have held off on a few of those errands, but Monday I need to get the plates for Dragon Heart so it is just as well that I have only church services on Sunday and rest in between...but who knows what Sunday will bring?

Whew!

~ Thank you, my Lord, for kindnesses shared and this gifted child who surprises me with what she writes and draws. Help me to finish the project I started before my husband's homecoming. ~