Since my last post, we have had nothing but gorgeous half summer, half autumn weather-- beautiful !! The only drawback is my body is sensing a time for hibernation-- wanting to eat and sleep, so I have had to push myself to stay steady on my projects.

Two horses are meeting the tire for the first time. The tire is one of our favorite "obstacles" for instilling respect and listening skills. OYY Cosette has already been lightly under saddle after lots of ground work. She was "laid off" but she is back in training. The tire was not a challenge for her at all.. being a very sensible and quiet young girl. One sniff - and she walks through it from all sides.





With a horse like Cosette, it's difficult in one way- because she is young, we can't rush her training, but she is so smart.. she is always up for another challenge. Here she is moving her haunches without being hitched to the lead.

We have decided to get an older broodmare under saddle- Zoe's Day Dream - a nice 15 hand chestnut curly mare out of Dream Curl and Colonel's Reuben. We are keeping a daughter of hers so "Reverie", as we call her, is for sale. She's had 3 nice curly foals so far. Gauging by her first day with the tire and a little ground work- she is going to train up easily and make a super riding horse.

Reverie wonders-- now what do you want me to do here ? I don't see any food in here- what exactly is the point ? She caught on quickly though and walked through form all sides.

We ended the session with a little free play.

Reverie has 2 spots of white on her left side, big enough I think to qualify her as a pinto.

OYY Iko Iko came out for another bath and some photo's. He's such a great little guy- out of Tall Trees Sassie and Cherokee Storm.

Our therapeutic riding center has 2 wonderful volunteers - Jen and Sarah- who are going to each take a Curly to a training level dressage show which is conveniently a few miles from the farm.

Here is Sarah schooling OYY Pal's Job, a handsome smooth coated 4 year old pony gelding. Jen will be riding OYY Elektra, another lovely smooth coated 15.2 hh 3 year old filly.

My daughter is excited to try her hand at her first dressage test on WR Winter Dancer, who is a 15.1 hh lesson horse.

So we are putting together the outfits for the girls and for the horses-- making plans for braiding styles on the 2 smooth coats. The show is the first Saturday of October so we have plenty of time to prepare.

Enjoy your day ~

Wearing Weather

Here we are continuing to whine about the weather… Up until 2 days ago—the weather was definitely wearing me down. Every day—rain. Award winning weeds are growing in fields I just clipped. Generally around this time, I can clip down the weeds in a field and have them dry up… giving plenty of space and sun for the grass to grow. Not so this year. Even the flowers are feeling soggy.

I spent a couple of days mowing through smartweed. This is a weed fond of moisture-- so it's a banner year for this plant with many old time uses. I read if a bit of smartweed was tucked beneath a horse's saddle will keep the horse from feeling hungry or thirsty over a long ride. Well, for me, it's become an exuberantly nuisance weed.. full of noxious pollen which flies out as you mow.

There are more Indian Pipe than usual it seems—and I suppose that’s due to the extra falling water. This odd white “flower” is a food source for bumblebees—I can’t imagine it having any tasty nectar but apparently it does. The ghostly plant is in the blueberry family.

I have had to also pay special attention my water bars on the road way up my little mountain. Each time I travel up, I back down to use the bucket on my tractor to tidy them up and smooth out the ruts which hold water and make for excellent new wash out stream beds. Some parts of the road are a little steep – and when you dip down into the water bar, then head up the rocky uphills.. it’s a matter of just looking straight ahead, hold tight and GO ! The other day, my sister came for a visit and I took her for a ride on the ATV up the little mountain. She was a brave passenger and when we got the top, I said—great job staying on.. if I am the passenger I always hop off and opt to walk. It didn’t occur to her that was an option. We took walks along the horse paths--- and sat by the pond for a nice restful afternoon.

I always thought having an ATV was more of a toy or luxury item on the farm until I actually acquired one… I use it a lot and it has proved itself to be invaluable for so many jobs… I can load it up with fence fixing tools and navigate myself almost anywhere in the fields or woods. It carries the chain saw, a bale of hay, and we also use it to lead horses to and from different pastures. It’s a great horse exerciser too… It’s kind of fun to see when the horses are tied to the back rack how fast they will trot out since it has a speedometer. Our tall elegant beauty OYY Elektra can easily and gracefully jog at 12 miles an hour effortlessly and she enjoys it too. OYY Niobe is our fastest traveler, with her extended trot at 14 miles an hour. Yesterday I tried to capture a photo of OYY Ivan and OYY Dante trotting behind the 4-wheeler. All I could manage to get was a head shot as he trotted alongside.


About 3 weeks ago, I heard the cicada’s for the first time. Usually August is the month of those very hot dog days of summer. This year, rainy and somewhat cool—the cicada’s are still buzzing, warning of the first frost which is predicted to arrive 6 weeks after you first hear them. Yikes—we have not even truly had a summer yet! Red leaves on the maple tree—turning early. The apple trees are nearly toppling over with the weight of fruit this year.. more than I have seen in a long time. This is also a predictor of heavy snows and a long winter. I guess we’ll find out in a few months.

I seeded my new field which used to be brush and new growth trees.. it’s now covered in a lovely green fuzz – very exciting !!

OYY Salvadore is pulling an evener quietly and will graduate to a cart soon.

Cherokee Storm is getting the idea of long lining well and becoming supple and responsive.

Saturday, someone came to look at OYY Dante. We headed into the indoor to put him through his paces—and suddenly—incredible downpour of rain mixed in with hail half an inch in diameter ! Deafening on the metal roof but Dante was completely unfazed by it all. Great little gelding. My grand-son Dominic was amazed by what he called the big ice cube storm! I have never seen hail that large in my lifetime. Crazy.

We just experienced the sturgeon full moon of August... and the hint of change. The sun is setting earlier and the evening shadows are noticeably longer.

On the way back to the house after working horses in the evening- I snapped photo's of my little "box" garden and my cleome, which is thriving this year.

Enjoy ~

Finding Faults and other "Whoops" !

Last week I noticed my fence charger was not putting out as full of a charge as usual—which by the way is a BIG charge. Since I have over 80 acres fenced and cross fenced I bought a powerful charger and I love it.. I have cut out switches along the fence which allows me to isolate areas and aid me in detecting any “faults” or shorts in the fenceline. I enlisted my daughter Zoe’s help--- as we armed ourselves with our cell phones, I walked and rode the ATV, opening and closing the switches as she reported back to me the effect on the charger’s output. I never thought I would find my cell phone to be so helpful. Sometimes technology is a good thing, once you learn to use it to your advantage. For a cell phone to be of any use to you however, you have to remember to carry it with you and also remember not to leave it in your pocket when you do a wash.


August is really the month for clipping fields- Lots of weeds with seed heads that must be mowed down. Since we have had rain nearly every day… I have to sneak it in when I can… kind of hurrying and feeling pressured to get it done. I hitched up the brush hog one afternoon, merrily tootling off to mow. I heard a jingle and clank, looked behind me and decided it was just the chains and chokers knocking against the back of the 3 point hitch. I always have my chains and chokers with me as my motto is—never travel “empty”. If I have to head out for one reason (carry hay or whatever) I generally hook onto a log and drag it back to my log area for cutting and splitting (winter’s fuel supply). I have lots to do so I just need to keep at it and FINISH, but I took a closer look as I kept hearing the noise…. WHOOPS… my longer chain was dragging under the mower and I actually mowed off a goodly length of chain and the hook. Uh-oh. Oh well, easily remedied.. just a shorter chain now.


August is also the month I try to spread manure. Some of the areas where horses congregate need to be scraped off. I make a BIG pile and then go to work. The spreader is a very old John Deere ground driven spreader which is pulled by my sweet old Ford 8N. My new and very useful Kubota does the loading. The last few years I have been working on an 8 acre area which was new growth trees and brush, clearing it off and planting for pasture. It’s coming out beautifully. I have been taking the manure load by load in my handy dump trailer and making a pile down there. I have to load and haul with the Kubota, since the 8N does not have the hydraulics for dumping. So load after load, I hitch on, travel, and dump… return, un-hitch, load again. Tedious repetitive work. Sometimes a tad scarey as most land in Vermont is what we call “side-hills”. Not somewhere you want a big heavy load pulling at you the wrong way.

Well, the trailer was all loaded, I went to hitch—got the hoses hooked, hopped on the seat and took off----- WHOOPS…. I forgot to raise the jack. Actually, you take this off and hang it off the side of the dump trailer, neatly out of the way while you are in motion. It’s bent badly enough that I could not remove it, nor could I raise it for traveling. Well, easily remedied…. With a BIG old sledge hammer (which by the way is always with me behind the seat of my tractor- you never know when you need to bang something into submission)--- beat the thing into position… and pretend it never happened. Sometimes denial works best on the farm, especially when you are busy.

As I was back and forth with my loads, I wondered to myself… why is it there are several yellow jacket wasp things following me everywhere? Next day—I figured it out – on closer inspection, there was a nest under the lip on the side of the dump trailer. So even after all these years of working on my farm… I am always learning new rules.

· Check your equipment out for wasp nests before you hook onto it.
· Look behind you before you drive off and make sure the jack is UP.
· If you hear noises of clanging metal when you are mowing it’s probably something you should stop and check.

One important “rule” I learned a long time ago --- LOAD LIGHT AND GO OFTEN.
It’s better to make extra trips than it is to overload and get in trouble. As I age, I am realizing this applies to myself just as well as my equipment.

So you too—load light, go often and Enjoy the day ~

Harnessing Stormy

Cherokee Storm has met with all his challenges so far quietly and respectfully. It's time to bit him up and put on the harness for some ground driving training. Stormy was fitted with another horse's bridle but did get his own brand new bit. Around here, when a horse reaches a certain level of training nicely, then they get their very own NEW bridle.

Stormy stood quietly in the round pen for harnessing up, only moving away from the crouper a couple of times. All the previous work with the tarp has paid off.

We use a driving harness minus the breast plate and tugs instead of a surcingle because it does add the crouper in for added exposure to "stuff" on his body. Many of the horses in training do go on to drive, others progress to training under saddle when they are ready.

Stormy does so well his first time. He is loving his sessions, always cantering up to the gate when it's time to be caught. He's eager to please and learn. His offspring so far also have all been smart and catch on quickly to whatever the task is at the moment. What a great fellow !

Tonight ~ OYY The Doctor of Dreams, aka Sigmund, is up next. It's been quite some time since he has been out for a session. Earlier in the year he was being ridden lightly in the indoor and down the driveway once. Since then, he has been turned out with his other two stud buddies, OYY Finnegan and OYY Salvadore. Sigmund's biggest issue is his wish to be CLOSE to you. He's a big gentle moose who has not figured out personal space yet. He's a big boy and needs to become a little more aware of his body parts.

After his work, he is allowed some free lunging.

We try him over the jump for fun. He's a horse that is never going to be in a rush.

Poor Chip has suffered a minor injury and is on bed rest. I can tell he's missing his lessons and riding. We give him extra grooming time and still practice quiet work in the stall like head and neck bends. When he was off, I called a vet who specializes in lameness. This vet had never seen a Curly before, and was so impressed by Chip's conformation-- loved Chip's shoulder, legs and feet-- really nice horse he said. That was nice to hear. When Chip is ready, he'll be back working and we plan to get him driving.

Back in April, I brought 2 Banty chicks home from the grain store. They have several "chick days" where the store is jam packed with little cheepers of all varieties. Often there are leftovers after customers pick up their order. So now I have Bob and Peep, named on the first day. Now that they have grown enough -- I am pretty sure they are indeed a rooster and a hen. Bob is beginning to crow now... a little shakey still... he leaves off the last few notes of the cockle doodle doo, but he'll get better. Maybe next year they'll hatch a few clutches.

Enjoy your day ~

Little girls love Ponies

Last night, my trainer, Lisa, brought her 3 daughters to ride two of the ponies we have under saddle, OYY Pal's Job and OYY Arcus. It was just like getting ready for a show-- bathing, grooming and cleaning up their tack. The girls had fun and the ponies LOVED the extra attention.

Job says - I could get used to this !!

Julie rode Job first and did a great job. A handsome duo ~

Emily is concentrating on getting everything into the "keepers" - neat and tidy. She is up next in the saddle with Arcus, 12.1 hand curly pony. Arcus is a super pony mount, brave and handsome. I even like to ride him sometimes !
In this photo from a few weeks ago, Arcus has red easy boots on-- how adorable is that ?

Before the boys went back out to their pasture, the youngest, Sarah had her chance to try a pony.

OYY Aztec, curly palomino pinto filly out of Ptesan-Wi and Cherokee Storm, had her first bath tonight also. My grand-son, Dominic, shows her off. She has excellent manners on the ground and is an amazingly SMART little girl. Now that she is all shed out, you can see she has unusual markings. On her body and legs, are palomino reddish freckles and she has beautiful greenish grey eyes. Very pretty filly. She will leave for her new home soon now that she is "trained".

OYY Salvadore was harnessed for some more long lining. He is really coming along beautifully. I love this guy !

Salvadore enjoying a little lovin' from the girls when he was done for the evening.

Today is raining (not surprising given the weather patterns of late), so I can't work outside much. I suppose it gives me time to catch up on the blog. I have been blog "tagged" by Adria of Green Mountain Curlies . I have to choose 2 other fellow bloggers to "tag" and also share 6 facts about myself--- hmmmnn... this needs some more thought.

Enjoy your day ~