tl;dr: Water still very high.
Long version:
The water at the chain-link fence has reached the top. The driveway I see on my way up to the barn is now officially six feet under.
Saturday James and I went out to see what we could see. All we could see was water - we crossed the road, went by the football stadium and up the soybean field, and just let the horses graze. The last 50' or so of the bean field is under water. The trail leading to the dead-fish lake is under water. The woods at the end of the field - the entire forest - is underwater! A pair of mallards were quite annoyed at our presence, and a lot of big fish were sploshing around in the field.
We found a "lay" of some kind right near the water. The foot-high grass was smashed down in a couple of irregular oval depressions. Our top three theories: deer, coyotes, or ducks. Personally, I'm leaning towards deer. I've seen deer lays, and they're pretty similar. Deer in the daytime tend to lay up in open fields. But the lay we were looking at was really near the water, and some of the depressions were fairly small. Maybe a couple of does with fauns?
We talked a little about the impact these floods have had on the local ecosystem - of course, we didn't say things like "impact" and "ecosystem," cause we're pretty country. :) We were wondering where the deer are hiding now, and what's happened to all the snake eggs, and what about the squirrels and chipmunks? We're eagerly waiting for the flooding to recede so we can see what's changed.
The NOAA says the MS is still not through flooding - the water should go up another foot in the Big River over the next couple of days. That means the Loosahatchie will stay full, and the creeks feeding it will stay overfull, and the fields will stay flooded, and DAMMIT I probably can't ride anywhere cool next weekend. Grump.
Update: The NOAA says the Loosahatchie at Arlington (about 10 miles upstream) is totally through flooding - 2' below normal now. Maybe the water will recede? Researching floods is totally new to me.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Shamelessly stolen from Daun
Daun at The Eventing Percheron recently put up a really well-thought-out post regarding Brego's ancestry: The Eventing Percheron: The Brego Identity. I thought I'd share what I know about Poppy's background.
I've had Poppy since February '07. I think I sweet-talked my husband into buying him as a Valentine's Day present. I'm not entirely sure why I wanted him. I'd thought Poppy was a big beautiful sweetie since I first saw him, back in 06 before I even owned my own horse. I'd done well with Champ and Silky, and I wanted to try (pick your favorite word) breaking / training a green horse. And I had the stupid forlorn hope that my husband would one day ride him. Well, two outta three ain't bad!
I got him from the barn manager, who was going through one of her biannual "oh fuck this I have too many horses I'm going to sell some!" crises. The manager, J, had owned Poppy since he was a weanling - 6 or 7 months old, and as big as a small Quarter Horse. J's a big woman who decided that she wanted a horse she wouldn't feel like she was squashing. Unfortunately, she's also scared of heights - and Poppy just kept growing. She kept him long after she realized she'd never ride him, because she didn't want him ending up pulling a carriage.* I bought him on the condition that as long as I board out there, I will never sell him to anyone but her - a verbal buyback clause. (We're rednecks, and we don't tend to write stuff down. Nobody has the money to hire a lawyer to sue for enforcement, anyway. Except me, I suppose.)
Anyway, J purchased young Poppy from a lady who'd rescued two pregnant PMU Percherons from Canada. After the lady got her two Percherons and turned them out with her five QHs and watched two drafts become four drafts, she realized she didn't have the pasture for all of them. So she sold Poppy to J. The first owner is the one who named Poppy, and nobody has a good explanation for his name. But it's very him. Sometimes I call him Big Boo, but Poppy is much more dignified.
So Poppy is technically a grade horse. But he's very drafty. His head, nose to ears, is probably a yard long. His feet are like dinner plates. His legs are still very narrow, like a hitch-type draft, but his torso's finally starting to fill out. I suppose he could be a Perch x draft, but he's sure not a Perch x light horse. And like Brego - he's black, with a star, not much feathering, and that's pretty damn Percheron-y. Calling Poppy a Percheron is like calling my double-coated otter-tailed water-loving yellow retriever a Labrador.
*Re: carriages. There's nothing wrong, per se, with having a horse earn his own living. And certainly nothing wrong with having a draft pull something to earn his bale of hay a day! But the Memphis carriage horses are heartbreaking. They're started young, worked hard, shod with metal and those goofy rubber shoes that do nothing to ease the concussion, and then sold to bleeding-heart fools or the meat market when they break down at 10-15. There's a new lady at the barn, a slightly insane "furbaby" type, who bought a lovely red roan Belgian from the carriage people. He's 11, with such bad navicular that he can't be ridden on anything harder than dirt. He's ELEVEN. A draft should, with luck, still be working happily til he's at least 20. And *that* is why I just cannot bring myself to sell Poppy. I'd love for him to go to someone like Daun, but odds are, he'd end up downtown.
I've had Poppy since February '07. I think I sweet-talked my husband into buying him as a Valentine's Day present. I'm not entirely sure why I wanted him. I'd thought Poppy was a big beautiful sweetie since I first saw him, back in 06 before I even owned my own horse. I'd done well with Champ and Silky, and I wanted to try (pick your favorite word) breaking / training a green horse. And I had the stupid forlorn hope that my husband would one day ride him. Well, two outta three ain't bad!
I got him from the barn manager, who was going through one of her biannual "oh fuck this I have too many horses I'm going to sell some!" crises. The manager, J, had owned Poppy since he was a weanling - 6 or 7 months old, and as big as a small Quarter Horse. J's a big woman who decided that she wanted a horse she wouldn't feel like she was squashing. Unfortunately, she's also scared of heights - and Poppy just kept growing. She kept him long after she realized she'd never ride him, because she didn't want him ending up pulling a carriage.* I bought him on the condition that as long as I board out there, I will never sell him to anyone but her - a verbal buyback clause. (We're rednecks, and we don't tend to write stuff down. Nobody has the money to hire a lawyer to sue for enforcement, anyway. Except me, I suppose.)
Anyway, J purchased young Poppy from a lady who'd rescued two pregnant PMU Percherons from Canada. After the lady got her two Percherons and turned them out with her five QHs and watched two drafts become four drafts, she realized she didn't have the pasture for all of them. So she sold Poppy to J. The first owner is the one who named Poppy, and nobody has a good explanation for his name. But it's very him. Sometimes I call him Big Boo, but Poppy is much more dignified.
So Poppy is technically a grade horse. But he's very drafty. His head, nose to ears, is probably a yard long. His feet are like dinner plates. His legs are still very narrow, like a hitch-type draft, but his torso's finally starting to fill out. I suppose he could be a Perch x draft, but he's sure not a Perch x light horse. And like Brego - he's black, with a star, not much feathering, and that's pretty damn Percheron-y. Calling Poppy a Percheron is like calling my double-coated otter-tailed water-loving yellow retriever a Labrador.
*Re: carriages. There's nothing wrong, per se, with having a horse earn his own living. And certainly nothing wrong with having a draft pull something to earn his bale of hay a day! But the Memphis carriage horses are heartbreaking. They're started young, worked hard, shod with metal and those goofy rubber shoes that do nothing to ease the concussion, and then sold to bleeding-heart fools or the meat market when they break down at 10-15. There's a new lady at the barn, a slightly insane "furbaby" type, who bought a lovely red roan Belgian from the carriage people. He's 11, with such bad navicular that he can't be ridden on anything harder than dirt. He's ELEVEN. A draft should, with luck, still be working happily til he's at least 20. And *that* is why I just cannot bring myself to sell Poppy. I'd love for him to go to someone like Daun, but odds are, he'd end up downtown.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
She *is* a show horse!
My very own Eagle Eyes Miss Dixie was at the GCHS last year. (Halfway down the page, class 272 SSH Open Shod.) That's kind of trippy.
Of course, 4th out of 4 isn't really a testament to her stunning natural gait or anything.
I dug her pedigree out of my files. On her dam's side, she doesn't go back to any "famous" gaited horse names (a 5th generation Black Sun daughter, woo!) but on her sire's side she's a granddaughter of The Pusher, a great-granddaughter of Delight of Pride, and a great-great of Mack K's Handshaker. I looked up her famous ancestors on Walker's West, but it depresses me to see all those padded, probably sored baby horses being ridden too hard. And wtf is with the gaited show horse seat? Why are all those guys ... craning their necks forward? Here, look at the '86 or the '87 WGC. Gaited show horse riders all - down to my crappy little local level - tend to ride hunched over with their heads craned forward. I'm not sure what the point is, or why they all seem to stare at their hands. My hands generally do what my brain tells them to do, regardless of whether or not I'm watching them. But that's just me, and I'm obviously not a show rider. :rolleyes:
Of course, 4th out of 4 isn't really a testament to her stunning natural gait or anything.
I dug her pedigree out of my files. On her dam's side, she doesn't go back to any "famous" gaited horse names (a 5th generation Black Sun daughter, woo!) but on her sire's side she's a granddaughter of The Pusher, a great-granddaughter of Delight of Pride, and a great-great of Mack K's Handshaker. I looked up her famous ancestors on Walker's West, but it depresses me to see all those padded, probably sored baby horses being ridden too hard. And wtf is with the gaited show horse seat? Why are all those guys ... craning their necks forward? Here, look at the '86 or the '87 WGC. Gaited show horse riders all - down to my crappy little local level - tend to ride hunched over with their heads craned forward. I'm not sure what the point is, or why they all seem to stare at their hands. My hands generally do what my brain tells them to do, regardless of whether or not I'm watching them. But that's just me, and I'm obviously not a show rider. :rolleyes:
Floods, part five
It rained for a while this morning. More rain tomorrow, yuck. Anyway, the fence by the driveway is still "shrinking" - a couple inches more are underwater. I'd say there's about a foot of fence still showing over the HUGE LAKE.
Poppy did not get trimmed today. He has lost all his manners. I worked with him a long time, though - stand nicely in the crossties, pick up your feet a lot, some round pen work, and a lot of walking around nicely. I'm just going to have to work with him every single day til I can get those feet trimmed. (Yes, I say that all the time about all the horses. Yes, I have too many. Can't just get rid of them though.)
Poppy did not get trimmed today. He has lost all his manners. I worked with him a long time, though - stand nicely in the crossties, pick up your feet a lot, some round pen work, and a lot of walking around nicely. I'm just going to have to work with him every single day til I can get those feet trimmed. (Yes, I say that all the time about all the horses. Yes, I have too many. Can't just get rid of them though.)
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
A good person... but not what I'd do.
This is a good person. She (I think it's a she?) has rescued two starving horses and is bringing them back to health. I'm not flaming her at all - but I don't think I'd go about it in the same way. Of course, what I would do if I were in her shoes is all based on what I've read on The Internet!, and we all know that Truth flows from The Internet!
First, she had the vet come out the day after she got the horse. That's good. But the vet floated teeth and gave shots the same day? And the vet said not to feed the horse any hay? Is that right? I'm pretty sure that no hay is a great way to colic a horse - but it's senior feed, maybe that makes a difference. But shots, possible sedation, and floating? No way.
Second, she got the mare's feet done. That's good. The front right before and after pics look good (although I'd love to see solar views and side views too). But I really don't like the way her trimmer did the back right. I've read (on The Internet!) some horror stories about thinning the walls too far up, and the basic reasoning for why that's a bad thing makes sense to me.
Basically, the only reason to rasp the flaring off the walls that high up on the hoof capsule is to make the hoof look good for the owner or trimmer. The only part of the hoof that the trimmer can affect* is the part that touches the ground - if you put a good mustang roll on that back hoof, and kept the roll up to date, the huge ugly flare would grow out on its own. And weakening the entire hoof capsule by thinning that flare isn't a good thing, and can possibly lead to bad things.
That's all just my opinion, of course. I'm really glad that person cares enough to rescue those horses, and I hope her dream of starting a rescue works out.
*Of course the trim, in a sense, affects the whole hoof. But what I mean - a good trim on an overgrown or distorted hoof isn't going to magically fix the entire capsule. It's going to give the capsule a chance to grow back in correctly. The part of the hoof that we see is the past, and there's not much we can do to change the past.
First, she had the vet come out the day after she got the horse. That's good. But the vet floated teeth and gave shots the same day? And the vet said not to feed the horse any hay? Is that right? I'm pretty sure that no hay is a great way to colic a horse - but it's senior feed, maybe that makes a difference. But shots, possible sedation, and floating? No way.
Second, she got the mare's feet done. That's good. The front right before and after pics look good (although I'd love to see solar views and side views too). But I really don't like the way her trimmer did the back right. I've read (on The Internet!) some horror stories about thinning the walls too far up, and the basic reasoning for why that's a bad thing makes sense to me.
Basically, the only reason to rasp the flaring off the walls that high up on the hoof capsule is to make the hoof look good for the owner or trimmer. The only part of the hoof that the trimmer can affect* is the part that touches the ground - if you put a good mustang roll on that back hoof, and kept the roll up to date, the huge ugly flare would grow out on its own. And weakening the entire hoof capsule by thinning that flare isn't a good thing, and can possibly lead to bad things.
That's all just my opinion, of course. I'm really glad that person cares enough to rescue those horses, and I hope her dream of starting a rescue works out.
*Of course the trim, in a sense, affects the whole hoof. But what I mean - a good trim on an overgrown or distorted hoof isn't going to magically fix the entire capsule. It's going to give the capsule a chance to grow back in correctly. The part of the hoof that we see is the past, and there's not much we can do to change the past.
Invisible floods, part four
So the MS has crested, I think, but it's not obvious. The Loosahatchie and Wolf are still going up.
I went to the feed store today, and as always I checked the views of the river from the highway. The spot where the horses were almost swimming two weeks ago? Yeah, they'd be swimming now. There are some signs on the dirt road, something to do with the pipeline running under the road - they're orange, maybe 7' tall, spaced every quarter mile or so, with mile markers on top. I couldn't see any of them. There's at least 7' of water on top of our little dirt road a half mile from the river!
On my way to the barn is a flooded driveway near the Wolf. The driveway runs down a little hill then back up another hill, and it's been flooded in the low spot for a couple weeks now. A 6' chain link fence runs alongside the driveway. Sunday I noticed that the water was halfway up the fence. Today, there can't be more than 18" of chain link still sticking up out of the water. It's just amazing.
I went to the feed store today, and as always I checked the views of the river from the highway. The spot where the horses were almost swimming two weeks ago? Yeah, they'd be swimming now. There are some signs on the dirt road, something to do with the pipeline running under the road - they're orange, maybe 7' tall, spaced every quarter mile or so, with mile markers on top. I couldn't see any of them. There's at least 7' of water on top of our little dirt road a half mile from the river!
On my way to the barn is a flooded driveway near the Wolf. The driveway runs down a little hill then back up another hill, and it's been flooded in the low spot for a couple weeks now. A 6' chain link fence runs alongside the driveway. Sunday I noticed that the water was halfway up the fence. Today, there can't be more than 18" of chain link still sticking up out of the water. It's just amazing.
A fearless and searching inventory
I was going to trim Poppy today, but he'd been standing in the mud all day and ... well, I wussed out. Stuck him in a stall to dry out overnight and started packing a little of my tack.
I've had horses for a year and a half. Somehow I've accumulated eight bits, four bridles, five sets of reins, two saddles (down from four a couple weeks ago), three saddle blankets, one draft-sized turnout blanket (came with Poppy), five halters, three 50 gallon feed bins, four hoses totaling about 135', three sawhorses, two saddle racks, two blanket racks, a mini-fridge, countless brushes and combs and patent medicines and first aid stuff... Sigh.
On top of the equine junk, I have a bunch of tools too. A nice 6' fiberglass ladder, cheap skill saw, hammer, tape, square, pry bar, screwdrivers, pliers, clamps, corded drill, cordless drill, 75' of extension cords, nails, screws, bolts, hinges, latches, wire, rope, etc.
I got the hoses and spare ropes packed in an empty grain bin, and the headgear (bridles, spare halters, reins, bits) packed in a tupperware tub. I sold two saddles in the last week and I'm giving the fridge to a friend. (That's just the barn fridge, I have another minifridge in storage.) I'll start hauling stuff to my dad's barn this weekend. He doesn't mind keeping my junk out of the weather til I get settled again.
I really don't know what to do with the draft sized turnout blanket. It's not something I'll ever need to use on Poppy, but it's not going to fit any other horse at the barn. Well, there's a Belgian there now too, but his owner is completely fucking insane and I'm not going to give her the blanket. I might just throw it away, much as it pains me. It may be apparent that I'm a wee tiny bit of a packrat :O
I've had horses for a year and a half. Somehow I've accumulated eight bits, four bridles, five sets of reins, two saddles (down from four a couple weeks ago), three saddle blankets, one draft-sized turnout blanket (came with Poppy), five halters, three 50 gallon feed bins, four hoses totaling about 135', three sawhorses, two saddle racks, two blanket racks, a mini-fridge, countless brushes and combs and patent medicines and first aid stuff... Sigh.
On top of the equine junk, I have a bunch of tools too. A nice 6' fiberglass ladder, cheap skill saw, hammer, tape, square, pry bar, screwdrivers, pliers, clamps, corded drill, cordless drill, 75' of extension cords, nails, screws, bolts, hinges, latches, wire, rope, etc.
I got the hoses and spare ropes packed in an empty grain bin, and the headgear (bridles, spare halters, reins, bits) packed in a tupperware tub. I sold two saddles in the last week and I'm giving the fridge to a friend. (That's just the barn fridge, I have another minifridge in storage.) I'll start hauling stuff to my dad's barn this weekend. He doesn't mind keeping my junk out of the weather til I get settled again.
I really don't know what to do with the draft sized turnout blanket. It's not something I'll ever need to use on Poppy, but it's not going to fit any other horse at the barn. Well, there's a Belgian there now too, but his owner is completely fucking insane and I'm not going to give her the blanket. I might just throw it away, much as it pains me. It may be apparent that I'm a wee tiny bit of a packrat :O
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