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So Much For Rest
2008-01-21 15:09:00
So much for rest today. Steve and I awoke this morning at 3 am to a flood in our ground floor as one of the pipes had burst. This is an annual event. The plumber is here now. All of the towels have been used to soak up the mess. I hate frigid cold. Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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NINE BELOW ZERO
2008-01-19 20:08:00
That's how cold it was when I went out to feed this morning. With wind chill it was -25 below zero. Do I really love my horses that much or am I insane? On weekends I sleep in and go out and feed around 8 am. During the week I feed before I go to work so I am out by 4 am. In order to survive these temperatures I end up looking like the little brother on Christmas Story. I'm surprised I can move with 20 pounds of clothes on. I have lots of layers, first long underwear, followed by sweat pants and I turtle neck. I have arthritis in my hips and neck as a result of injuries so I wear a hooded sweatshirt and put a winter headband around my neck. Then on goes the insulated bibs and hooded jacket. I have sorel boots that are supposed to protect to -35 below, WRONG! I put feet warmers in my boots and I have hand warmers for my gloves. Since it is colder then 20 degrees I have to cover my nose and mouth because of my asthma. I love winter, NOT! How do you keep warm?Please visit http://mid...

The Tails of Woe
2008-01-17 22:09:00
When I went out to feed this morning, I realized that the girls' tails were shorter in some areas than in others. Suddenly very obvious to me. More obvious on Kola because her hair is more silky and Misty's is wavy curly, but both had looked like the bad barber of Seville had gotten to them. It suddenly came to me what was going on.Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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The State Of My Horses' Tails
2008-01-17 22:08:00
Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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The Problem
2008-01-17 22:07:00
Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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The Culprit!
2008-01-17 22:07:00
Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.

Kola Pissed Off!
2008-01-17 21:56:00
Kola getting pissed with Spot today......She was severely aggravated with Spot and the snow and the fact that I came out there and did not offer any treats!Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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How Is This Right?
2008-01-16 14:28:00
This was forwarded to me from my horse club. This is precisely what I bitch about and we scratch our heads and wonder what's up with the horse industry........This is just plain wrong.......I've eliminated the phone number as I do not want to be resposible for causing grief to these old folks as clearly this is a serious situation. It just pisses me off! I highly doubt they were bred for conformation. They were bred because there were four stallions left with the mares, clearly these horses have not been cared for! At 35 bucks a head a kill buyer could make a profit!"Dear Katie, I have a nieghbor who has fourty two horses how need homes. They are old and have medical problems and finacial and want the horses to go to good homes. Her name is XXX and she ask that you pay 35.oo for a coggins test and you can have the horses. Many are Arab of of good blood lines, and some are Arab Quarter. This is a sad situation as the horse have no food and the breeding has become out of hand. If yo...

My Very Horsey Desk
2008-01-14 23:39:00
Don't know why I decided to put this pic up, but here it is. My almighty blog station . Up in the loft of the barn/house. I challenge all those I visit and all that visit me to put up a pic of your blog station. I think it would be interesting. Mine is very western, horsey, and girly as I keep all my watches and a few lotions handy. What's missing in the pic, would be a big black cat named Zeke attempting to type and a black and white dog trying to sit on my lap. They must be napping.Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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A Week In Review......
2008-01-10 23:14:00
The girls have decided that everyday should be treat day as Tuesday I wormed them and after they received a treat for being so good about it, so every afternoon, they line up and wait for a treat, modeling their mud gear.Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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Got To Love Me!
2008-01-10 16:16:00
Look at that face. I love this dog. He is relentless in the morning and will not go potty until I have woke to feed the horses. He views the routine as part of his job. He then chases me about the house as I dress, er, ah.... go to the john and finally don my boots. Each moment in anticipation for going out to feed. Talking to me the entire time. This is one of his more melancholy moments obviously when he hasn't finished Daddy's coffee.Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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BUYER BEWARE
2008-01-09 09:11:00
I have never been a fan of auction houses. Recently I helped my friends fill out paperwork to register some babies they bought at auction. It was one of those sales where a breeder brings in about 40 horses of various ages. All the weanlings were sold on the breeders certificate to register. They did not take the time or effort to paper these horses and of course the expense of each one would really add up. So now the burden is on the new owner to register and transfer the horse. Here is where the problem starts. One of the dam's did not have DNA on file, she died and it is not possible to get it. Guess what? They now have a GRADE horse. AQHA's answer, "It is not our responsibility to police the breeders." I asked why don't they request that before issuing a certificate and they said they catch it when the foal gets registered. Isn't that like closing the gate after the horse got out? They should not issue certificates without DNA or allow anything but official printed ones issu...
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Weird Weather!
2008-01-08 02:34:00
Three days ago we had about 10 inches of snow still on the ground. Today, the temperature started at about 49 degrees and within an hour was up to 63. Most all of the snow has melted revealing the poop I must now clean. I cleared the loafing shed on Saturday. There was still ice on the ground. Except today. We were under a tornado warning and several touched down. We were lucky as we did have a severe thunderstorms with wicked straight line winds and pouring buckets of rain, just a few miles east of us got the worst of it with several tornado touch downs and lots of damage. Strange for January as our average high this time of year is the low 20's and often frigid cold. Crazy. Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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Dog Cowboy Boots
2008-01-06 18:03:00
Found these on Ebay today. Jess, thought Max might appreciate these fancy things. He would look so Macho.Item number: 350011757878I found these while researching for my new site/blog. the right if http://lookwhatifoundforsale.blogspot.com /Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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Bad Attitudes!
2008-01-02 15:58:00
It's typical these days. With the girls locked in and not allowed out in the pasture, even though they have plenty of room to stretch their legs, we have some very bad attitudes at breakfast these days. Trust me, neither of these girls are lacking for food. As you can see by the pinned back ears and pursed lips, the bad attitudes are flying. I slept in today so my husband went out to feed and he said Kola actually reared. Thankfully, he just feeds through the fence. She has never done that when I've gone in there, but I received a whole lot of attitude yesterday when I tried to halter her so that I could get a closer look at her eye, which I think is doing fine. Now I did win in the end. They've been pissy for two months solid now since the closing of the pasture, mostly Misty pissed about the pasture and just involves her ignoring me. Kola suddenly now over the food. It is especially cold today. I'm hoping it will warm up by the end of the week and then we will work on a few ma...
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Different Perspectives
2008-01-01 21:22:00
As my wife has said many times and never ceases to remind me."I am a city boy" , I also happen to be British but don't hold that against me .I have listened to Callie and Jessie talk about horse slaughter and read Callies article about Closing the Slaughter Houses and her post about the accident with a loaded hauler.I am sort of on the fence over horse slaughter , I do not like the idea but sort of understand why it happens, and normally stay out of it.But something has just caught my interest a new bill going through CongressAmerican Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 311)Now as an outsider and with little understanding it seems to block the domestic and international transport of live horses or horseflesh for human consumption, which will stop the current way round the slaughter houses being closed down and the horses for slaughter being transported to Mexico and Canada for slaughter.The bill does appear to be set up to stop it , but leaves the question of who will polic...
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Happy New Year All!
2008-01-01 09:15:00
My previous post got me to thinking that I need to thank all of you who visit my blog whether just to read and/or leave comments, which by the way are always welcome. I feel a kindred ship with most of you. We visit each other back and forth and I really enjoy reading your blogs as well. I just want to wish all of you the Happiest of New Year s and I hope this New Year finds you all and your families happy and healthy! Thanks everyone! :)Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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Thank-You!
2007-12-31 23:54:00
A resounding Thank-you for the lovely gifts given to Steve and I from our children. For the touching cards and thoughtful gifts and mostly for the gift of their presence here with us over the holidays. We enjoyed our time with them so immensely and wish all of our children could be with us year round, but understand that they are now all fine young adults with lives of their own. I can only hope that they love us as much as we love them. Thank-you Kids!Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.

Winter Wonderland
2007-12-31 20:57:00
Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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Smokey
2007-12-29 04:10:00
This is Smokey and me(gosh I need a facelift). Our tour guide on the 26th, in Milwaukee. He is an 11 year old Belgian. Built like a brick poop house. He was a sweetie. Of course a horse person is going find out all I can about the horse. He was especially fond of my daughter, who acts like she doesn't really care for horses, but she got right up there and he rested is head on her shoulder. My nearly 19 year old daughter is a tiny 5'2" thing.Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.

More Snow
2007-12-29 03:16:00
It is a beautiful winter wonder land out here today. This was the start of about 6 to 8 inches of snow which started this morning. When we got home this evening after taking the kids to the OHare in Chicago, I shoveled about 8 inches of snow off the stairs. I took this just before we left at about 1:00pm. The girls always put their backs to the wind. When it first started this morning, I got out there to feed everyone and clean troughs and freshen water, the girls were spooked several times and nearly ran me over twice while I was bringing in their hay as it was dead quiet at about 07:30 am and in the distance we could hear a pack of coyotes. The boys {the goats} were nestled in their shelter and I tossed their hay indoors for them. They weren't too happy about the coyotes either. I need to get my gun back from Jeremiah. It's an old small shot gun with a 22 attached to it as well. I think it used to be my Grandfather's. I gave to Jeremiah to clean it for me and give a try, see if...
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Kola's New Blanket
2007-12-26 02:48:00
Kola pictured here on Christmas day in her new blanket after a Saturday of rain and then temperatures in the teens that night. Sunday morning, her blanket was a sideways bunched up ice ball which I was unable to straighten, so she ended up with a new blanket and Misty pictured in her sliding sideways blanket. They were watching the kids out in the field on the quad. We had a bunch more snow,however a lot of it melted with that last rain. Of course now there is a powdery soft stuff on top of ice.Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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Getting Better
2007-12-20 06:27:00
Little Ronnie is coming along. The ankle is almost half the size that it was before. It still has not abscessed out. These type of injuries take a long time to resolve themselves. She is one tough little girl. She is the youngest weanling out in the pasture, she holds her own. Cash continues to be her best friend. He is the lover of the group, he has Emma and Ronnie. He hangs with them while the other 2 colts bicker over who the boss is. Roxanne hangs with the one colt Spike and Bosco has his Momma out there. She reminds him that she has weaned him. My friend Sue had her show stallion abscess from a vaccination in the neck. The vet had them do different things and as a final resort was going to lance it. They were worried about infection and scarring. Before the vet could get out to do that the abscess went from the neck right down into the hoof. It was so bad it took off a big part of the hoof. The farrier kept him comfortable so he was not totally lame, he was not show sound. He w...

Winter Horse Keeping
2007-12-18 14:16:00
These are a few things that I do during the Winter to get through it. If anyone has anything to add to it, I welcome it. 1) I keep the 100 gallon water trough full and heated. 2) Once the weather hits below 20 degrees F, I blanket the girls. Usually by then they have well established winter fuzzies and Misty is my indicator because she will shiver and it's time to pop on blankets even though she hates it. 3) I up their grain just slightly, Jess once told me that it's like a warm cup of hot chocolate to them. I also up their hay a bit too, but I still watch them closely for too much weight gain. They usually maintain fairly well. 4) I still keep up their feet of course, right on schedule. 5) I close my pasture. I still give them plenty of turn out room because the training area and paddock are connected via gate and I keep that gate open. 6) I've got rubber mats layed in the entire loafing shed. It's large and sturdy and can be easily converted to box stalls if necessary. I keep...
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I Think We're Nuts!
2007-12-14 13:24:00
So yesterday, Steve and I went to our favorite little tree farm and cut down our tree, both agreeing that it would a little smaller and manageable since all child brats are no longer home to help us. So determined to cut it down and not buy one off a tree lot. We did ask the owner about some of his pre-cut trees and he said,"Well, I don't have very many, but I do have this 11 1/2 foot one right here." And Steve and I replied, "No, no, no. That's far too big." "This year we want one a little bit smaller." Both of us thinking that this may the last year we cut one down, not that either one of us is old, but I have MS and Steve has had a heart condition, so I do the cutting. I won't let him do that kind of stuff. Anyway, we found one and we both looked at it exclaiming that it wasn't that big. It wasn't overly fat and really wasn't that tall. I layed on the ground with the saw and Stephen laughed his bottom off as the owner's 7 month old pup started playing with my head, licking...
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A Horse's Eye
2007-12-10 23:38:00
A horse's eye, if ill, can decline very quickly. Where other things may be logically dealt with and maybe even blown off for awhile, an eye is one of those things you don't mess with. The horse is so dependant on their sight as a prey animal. We all know this anyway. Of course in this household there is never a dull moment. Kola's left eye, inner eyelid flared up a few days ago and she was teary. I inspected her eye closely and the eye itself looked ok, just the inner lid looked a bit reddened and swollen to me. I cleaned it out and decided that I would watch it over the weekend as I did have to do three 12 hour night shifts on the trot. I did check it daily and noticed that while it wasn't worse, it wasn't better. From the advice of my friend Jess, I swiped a few saline "endos" from work and when I got home this morning rinsed Kola's eye thoroughly and called the vet for an afternoon appointment. My two favorites from our local clinic came out and Kola cooperated. They determ...

My Little Lilyput......Little?
2007-12-08 23:03:00
This is what I call hisses and kisses or 5lbs of potatoes in a 2lb sack. Ahhh........My little beastie, Lilyput. So loving and pleasant. This cat just cracks me up. As I've noted before, blind, extra toes and calico mean and unsocial. But, I lover her anyway. She has corrupted my Christmas bows and has managed to scatter them over the house. She loves to thieve things, especially plastic and paper. She then attempts to hide them in the kitchen. She has been known to attempt a "bra" theft and certainly a rogue sock or two.Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.

A Dedication to Wilma
2007-12-07 02:28:00
Wilma was euthanized today at 4:45pm at the age of 15 years. She came to me as a two year that had obviously abused. It started simply as a baby sitting job that turned into a permanent home for Wilma. Wilma loved the water as do retrievers. She was very loyal and the one dog the kids always could relate to. Her health declined very quickly this week and she was in pain. After all she was 105 years old in dog years. A pretty good run. She went peacefully while I held her. The hardest thing anyone has to do. If you've ever had animals in your care, you know what I mean. Wilma will be missed by this family. Godspeed, Wilma.Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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Woke To 6 Inches Of New Snow!
2007-12-05 16:00:00
This is the state of some of the critters today. Misty, pictured in red, is now fully pissed off at me. When I called them in to eat this morning, she was shivering. She always shivers in the winter. So I de-icicled them and threw a blanket on Misty after chasing her down in the pasture, and she is now pissed at me. Kola wasn't shivering, so I did not blanket her yet, but probably will later today. I also, after observing them trip up in the snowy pasture, decided that this was it, I'm closing it down, which also upset Misty and this is the state of the girls this morning, totally ignoring their hay. Spot, also on my "s---" list is pictured here after attacking the snow shovel after every time I tried to throw the snow. Now I'm pissed at them. Spend 40 minutes out there in the cold trying to sort the snow, horses, and goats.Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.
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Who's So Spoiled?
2007-11-30 00:31:00
Spot on the daybed in Stephen's office, tucked in, head on pillow. I have never known a more loving, well behaved and spoiled rotten dog. He is often Mama's baby and Daddy's pal. Now that I've changed my hours and work every Friday and Saturday night, Monday is now often my errand day and Spot has now gotten into the habit of traveling along with me, the bank, the Co-op for grain, etc.. This past Monday, I took the Focus and Spot rode shotgun. Occasionally he'll bark at a stranger passing by while I'm in the store. He unfortunately, must have been scared, because when I returned to the car after my last stop, he had blown his butt glands. Oh my gosh, he was mortified and I needed a clothespin for my nose. Zoe will be so mad as the Focus is the car we let the kids use when they're home. Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.ht ml for more horse stories, information and resources.