Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Action-packed day

Ok, not really. I finished stacking my hardwood then I sat down with the Kindle and read. I polished off Changes, again, then absolutely wailed on Ghost Story. I thought it was awesome. I've read a little discussion about it and I think other discussors are idiots and it ruled. Yeah, you could look at it as a placeholder novel full of boring character development, but it was really important character development. Of course I had some wild hypotheses after reading Changes when it first came out, and I was actually half-right about them. I'm glad I was wrong about the ones I was wrong about! Really impressed with the long term story arc that Jim Butcher has going here.

I know that's utterly cryptic if you don't read Dresden, but it's non spoilery if you do. (Email me if you want to talk after you read it!)

Better than Dance with Dragons and I only had to wait an extra six months for it. As opposed to five damn years for GRRM's doorstopper.


ANYWAY. In between my marathon of reading I did my food shopping for Lake Almanor and (drumroll please) I washed that horse. Somebody had asked about the Flappy Lip Thing, so I took a video for yall. Yeah, Dixie's sunburned, but not too badly, and my general horse philosophy is to treat her as a free agent as much as possible. She hates the sunscreen (and I sympathize, I hate that crap too) so I don't usually smear it on her.

Flappy Lip Face from Funder on Vimeo.


Today was Day One of working on her mane. It's really more than we deserve. I think it took 12 pumps of the shampoo bottle to suds it up and scrub it, then I used a good six ounces of conditioner on it, then I let it dry for a while and sprayed Show Sheen on it. I let it get mostly dry before I turned her out again. Tomorrow I will use like half a bottle of Cowboy Magic on it and brush it out into a glistening two foot long halo of silver. Thursday she'll have scrubbed dirt and branches back into it and we'll be back where we were Monday. Futility, thy name is horse.

I measured, and it's 27" long at the longest point.
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Obviously she's standing facing downhill and she's a little stretched out, but she looks good! The stall rest lardiness has melted right off of her as soon as I started riding again.
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If it looks like I didn't even wash her body, well, I didn't. It's futile. See?

So much for being clean from Funder on Vimeo.


So there's a Southern tongue-in-cheek horse myth that a horse is worth an extra $500 for every time it rolls completely over. Anybody else heard that one? Dixie's only +500 here, but I've seen her get up to +1500. ;)

16 comments:

  1. Love the floppy lip video! And, even with the down-hill stance, I think that's one of the best photos you've ever posted of her! She looks good!

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  2. I nearly spewed 5:33 a.m. coffee on the screen. The floppy lip is priceless!

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  3. She`s a trooper all right! Floppy lip or no!

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  4. I understand you pain. Every time I get my Missy mare all nice and clean, it all takes about 5 minutes before she's the color of mud again...It is, indeed, futile!

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  5. Dixie does look great - I'm so happy she's healthy and you're riding :)

    If you want a laugh, go to Paradigm Farms and check out our twin comments on the new arrival, handsome Sam. I guess we have the same taste in boys ;)

    Oh, and forgive the bragging - Val has hit $2500 on a good day lol.

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  6. Enjoyed the floppy lips, we have a few horses here that do that.

    When I saw the photo of her (even though she is standing downhill and all) my first thought was she looks really good!

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  7. I'm trying to convince myself that Peanut is too manly (geldingly?) for a mane of that caliber.

    She looks fabulous!

    I've never heard that about rolling all the way over, but we do cheer them on when they do. At least Dixie doesn't turn GREEN when she rolls.

    Grumble.

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  8. I've heard that too. Though, i thought they were worth $100 for each time they make it over. So far, Boomer is still at zero as far as I can tell. :/

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  9. I think Heather and I are in the same economy re: rolling. We always said it was $100 for each complete roll.

    By this count: Fiddle is worth billions.

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  10. Every time I see my horses roll I think of that saying. Sadly mine are only worth $500.

    The Dresden files are better, eh? I'll have to check them out.

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  11. I feel your pain with the white horses! I swear there's a rule that the more white they have, the more dirt they will find to cover it with!

    And not sure if you've tried it, but my secret for sunscreen is the spray on type. It usually lasts about 2 days for my most sensitive horses, and it's a lot less miserable for them to wear. Usually I've just resorted to keeping the white ones inside during the day. Sucks, because poor Q is night blind (homozygous app), but he gets a light, and doesn't turn into a pony-ka-bob!

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  12. I've not heard the $500 thing but I always heard that a horse that can roll all the way over and back is MUCH superior to a horse that can't. *sigh* Nina doesn't roll all the way over, she gets balanced up on her spine and pulls herself down on the same side. Then she jumps up and rolls on the other side. At least it cuts down on the chance of getting cast. Pretty manes are worth the trouble - even if they run right out and stick leaves and dirt in it.

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  13. I'm going to go hug Lilly right now! LOL

    Dixie's floppy lip is so cute!! And she looks really good... the riding has really whipped her back into shape.

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  14. You know I love Dixie's mane.

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  15. I just got Kindle on my phone a little bit ago and the inner nerd is coming out again. I'm going to have to check out the books you've mentioned.

    She's so pretty! Maybe I'm biased to paints but whatever. Glad to hear everything is going along swimmingly. :)

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  16. OH ! LOVED her floppy-lips-in-water action! She is so filled with personality... like her mom!
    And with that sand base for rolling my = 1,500 on hogs fuel- mare, would maybe go to = $2,000!! We always would count, my sissy and me when I was about 10, as the horse rolled over!!

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