Today was a busy day here at the Rockin’ Circle C, as every Saturday tends to be. Not much horse time, but cathartic for me none-the-less. Gardening and scooping poop are both things that get a person thinking and contemplating life.
It was so bittersweet this morning when I moved the hot-wire to new grazing. Ariel nickered at me, as she always does when I go out to feed. :-( It was really hard this morning hearing that. The next 6 mornings are going to be so difficult.
The girls both got to racing around quite a bit. Gotta love Arabs and their flagging tails and bursts of energy. I never tired of seeing them run. I really should have taken the camera out this morning and caught video. I will definitely make a point of doing that between now and Friday. Ariel is looking healthy for the most part, but slightly on the ribby side despite being on tall, rich, green grass 24/7 for the past month. She may still have a bit of residual pain going on from that abscess. The line across her hoof is pretty remarkable. I need to snap pictures of it. Buena is fat and sassy! Still wants her standard spots scritched even after racing around. This week I picked up a 50 pound bag of wet cob for Ariel’s last meals. It was tough. I don’t ever buy stuff like that; horses don’t need all that sugar and extra carbs. I also picked up a tube of Quietex to add to my stash, just in case Buena is agitated enough to give her some. I forgot I had two other tubes from last year. :-(
After I moved the hot-wire so the girls could graze more super-tall grass, I proceeded to work on the gardening chores that are never-ending. I mowed all of the lawns while Ben and Jackson ran the weed-eater. Or I should say Ben ran the weed-eater and Jackson supervised. It’s been so darn wet lately that the bagging attachment on the riding John Deere mower is a major pain in the you-know-what! Once the mowing was done I headed towards the currant bushes.
The weeds and Himalayan blackberries encroach on the currant bushes every year and I am hoping that this year I won’t have to struggle as much to get the berries harvested. Last year I think I got close to 10 pounds of berries. If I wouldn’t have boiled-over one batch of jelly, I would have a had a lot more finished product last year. As it was, I still had plenty. (big smile) Here’s a picture of half of 2007’s currant crop:
Today was Ben’s birthday. I made a tasty dinner of Copper River Sockeye Salmon with a honey-soy marinade, oven roasted honey mustard red potatoes with Walla Walla onions and peeled fresh baby carrots. Dessert was Fisher scones with Tillamook Vanilla Bean ice cream and balsamic simmered mixed berries. Yum!
Tomorrow is another non-horse day. The girls will get more grazing, but being Father’s Day, Ben has plans to ride his bicycle from Cayuse to Cayuse with some guys in training for RATPOD in two weeks. Jackson and I get to do sag wagon duty again, but there should be some snow to play in on the passes! Hopefully it will be a mostly sunny drive, too! Last weekend it was sunny for the ride up to Crystal and back.
Once we return from RATPOD, horse time begins in earnest! More on that later! Yes, I know I said that it started on May 1st, but the weather and life in general wasn't exactly cooperative!
3 comments:
I'm getting teary reading. Hadn't checked in little while, but suspected I knew what your decision re Ariel would be.
Thankfully so far the recent few years have been free of like choices for me, but I cried buckets a few years back when my parents called to ask me about the decision to let their last two mares (the last of my growing up horses) pass together. A mother/daughter pair who'd been together from birth, both had health issues. For Schelah, the dam, at nearly 30 life had become a daily struggle with arthritis, failing vision and other age-related problems. For daughter Meggie, life without her constant companion of twenty+ years would have been lonely and cruel. Slightly lame herself from her teens on due to ringbone, she was happy enough to be a much fussed over pasture potato, but was growing more and more uncomfortable on cool mornings, and northern Michigan winters had gotten to be just plain unpleasant for both mares. Rather than see them suffer another long cold winter, they had a very good final fall.
It's never an easy decision to make, but it shouldn't be: if it was easy, our horses wouldn't bring as much joy to our lives.
Kudos to you on making the right decision for Ariel.
I found your blog off FHOTD as I find many. I am just getting teary thinking of your next six days. I will defenitely be thinking of you, it was a hard decision and you are doing what is best.
I haven't had to go through it yet but I can only imagine how hard it is. I am very sorry you are losing a dear friend.
Hmmmm...I just came across your blog from FUGLY horse. It looks like you have an ambivalent day that is approaching? I will have to read more and see what has been going on with Ariel. I was surprised to see that you live in Enumclaw. I have lived in Buckley and Enumclaw for over twenty years now. Hope that you do not mind my stopping by! Your music selection is great also. Way to support our local artist, Brandy Carlisle!
Post a Comment