Acute Spring Fever

Is spring finally here? I cannot remember a winter more miserable than the one (I hope) just past. That's quite a statement from someone who's always hated winter anyway.

It wasn't just the cold - although it was very cold very late in the season - which is always hard to take - it was me, my body and mind. My back, always touchy due to congenital lumbar stenosis, decided to have a fit at the worst possible time. The heavy clothes I had to wear to the barn made my back scream, which made my legs scream, which made it difficult just to walk back and forth to the barn, let alone do anything when I got there.

Twenty-five years of making a living using a keyboard have left me with severe tendinitis in both hands and carpel tunnel syndrome in both wrists - both of which are quite sensitive to the cold. The extra effort of working in heavy gloves greatly exacerbates the tendinitis, making gripping anything very painful.

Definitely not helping matters was the fact that there was so much stall cleaning to do, especially in the morning - my very worst time. No, it wasn't Indy and Ami. They are pretty darn neat in their stalls, even in very bad weather. Rather it was the barn cats. Yes, I said cats - about 20 of them using the stalls as litter boxes. Ewwwwwwww!

Not only did we have to practically sift the stalls to find it all of it, cat poop makes horse poop smell like Channel #5. Not great exactly the greatest on frigid mornings when one already feels like Dead Person Walking - under 15 lbs. of layered clothing. The worst of it was that all this took so long that it was almost time for their lunch by the time we finished.

Several times I was so exhausted when we finally got back in the house that the only thing I could do was crash so I would be able to fix Indy's and Ami's lunch and take it out to them - which of course involved getting all dressed again. I was truly miserable. There were mornings when I honestly questioned whether I would be able to get dressed - no small feat at 10 degrees - stagger to the barn, clean up, mainly after the cats, stagger back to the house, get undressed, rest for maybe an hour before lunch.

So, on those mornings while I was lying in bed wondering if I could make it through another bone chilling morning, did I wish I didn't have to go out in the cold? Certainly. Did the thought that I might be better off without horses ever cross my mind? Certainly not.

Why not? Because my life would be so empty without them. Because, for me, horses are Magic. No matter how bad I feel and for whatever reason, the moment I'm with my horses I'm fine. These glorious creatures are as necessary to me as the air I breath - air preferably wafting the warm, earthy smell of horses my way.

I was born addicted to horses, and I will die addicted to horses. It's no more under my control than the color of my eyes or the fact that I happen to be left handed. It just is. And I am so grateful for it.

Well, then, what about all those cats? What can I do? I mean, I couldn't get along without Princess, or Precious, or Zip, or Cudzy, or Tab, or Ranger, or Scout, or Pepper, or Blue, or Bobby, or Scritch, or Frosty, or Nose, or BK, or Speed, or Mr. Gray, or Bash, or Bunny, or Boots, or ...

Oh well. They hardly ever use the stalls when the weather is decent.

Where Is Global Warming When You Need It!

Cold? Who's Cold? It was a balmy 29 degrees when we went out to feed the horses this morning. Balmy compared to the last few days when temps toped out at 10 or 11 degrees that is. Yesterday we started out with -4.

The footing was so bad that even Indy was reluctant to venture out into the field. It was so warm and so wet just a few weeks ago that the ground was unusually torn up - and then it froze that way. Indy just doesn't like it, but poor Ami gets foot sore. She always did that. I've had her since she was a yearling, and her soles always gave her problems on broken, frozen ground.

It will be better for them today though. Not only is it a bit warmer, we're getting snow. It's surprising how much cushion just an inch or two of snow can provide.

Besides, Indy especially loves snow, and not just to romp in either. He eats it. I've watched him at his outside hay feeder take a few bites of hay and then a mouthful of show. It's just like the sip of water he takes every few bites at the inside feeder. Well heck, hay is dry stuff.

We all had an interesting adventure on that -4 morning though. I was preparing the inside portion of Indy and Ami's breakfast - couple of soaked alfalfa cubes and their Omega 3 supplement - when I glanced out the kitchen window and there was a deer in the backyard! Actually, there were two deer in the backyard, just a few feet from the window. I got my Mike's attention, and we started watching them.

I know they could see us in the window, but they didn't seem to care. They just looked around, occasionally munching a bite of grass. Then one of the barn cats started coming to the house. When she saw the deer, she stopped short and hunkered down. She stared and the deer and they stared back - ah, predator and prey! Well, not exactly.

In fact, one of the deer started toward her to check her out. The deer wasn't worried, but the cat was. She hunkered down even further, but the deer stopped, distracted by something more interesting.

I peered around toward the barn to see if Indy and Ami were catching any of this. They hadn't been there the last time I looked, but they were there now, standing side by side at the fence, ears forward in interest but hardly alarm.

Finally, the deer got bored and wandered away. I'm sure this scenario has happened before, even if the dumb humans didn't see it.

Like I always say, never a dull moment!

Worst Nightmares

After heavy snowfall throughout New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, Mike and I went slogging through the snow yesterday to give Indy and Ami their breakfast on the coldest morning yet this winter. The temperature was all of 9 degrees with a stiff north northwest wind that drove the wind chill well into minus territory.

Wearing my heaviest boots that make me look - and feel - like the Frankenstein Monster, I galumphed behind Mike along the mercifully short distance from the house to the barn. Once inside, we found Ami standing in the front stall, and Indy lying down in the back one. But wait a minute - he's upside down. He's not lying down, he's cast!

Having no idea how long poor Indy might have been trapped like this, Mike and I rushed to help him. In so doing, we ignored everything we both know about working with a cast horse - we grabbed his feet with our hands instead of using ropes. Mike took the back and I took the front. Since Indy was lying with his head almost to the back wall, there wasn't a lot of room for me to get out of his way if we did succeed in getting him free. My left brain was reminding me of all this while my right brain was screaming that Indy was in trouble and we had to help him!

Even considering our saddle fitting adventures, there are times when being round is a good thing. Indy rolled over on his fuzzy barrel as easily as rolling a, well, barrel. He contemplated the situation for a moment, then got to his feet as calmly as if he'd been taking his normal pre-breakfast snooze. Well, this is Indy after all...

I worried that he might be sore from his ordeal even though there weren't signs of a significant struggle in the stall when we found him. And, in true Indy fashion, he said, "What? Me worry?" He was fine, and nothing showed up today either. He was plowing around in the snow like his usual self, obviously enjoying the sun we had today.

All's well that ends well as they say, but I think another little homily might be appropriate as well - Do as I say, not as I do!

Bullseye!

We here in Warsaw, IN certainly dodged a bullet with the ice storms that have plagued so much of the country. We only had one day when it was really slippery, and we never lost power at all. However, we weren't quite so lucky with this last winter storm. It was snow instead of ice - thank goodness! - but little ole Warsaw saw some of the heaviest snowfall of the entire region - some 14 inches, and that's not counting the fact that there was a lot of blowing and drifting...

Even though it wasn't bitter cold, the wind continued to howl the next day, and even Indy seemed a bit intimidated by it all. Later in the day however, I saw him venture out to the gate even though he didn't go outside the paddock. They both seemed content do stay up by the barn and munch hay.

I knew Indy couldn't contain his curiosity for long though. Sure enough, today he was venturing all the way to the cross fence - and there was Ami right behind him. Some of the drifts were knee deep even for him, and he seemed to take pleasure in galloping through them. The more practical Ami just walked.



Actually, the most difficult part was just getting to the barn the first morning. The drifts were impossible to walk through, even for Mike. He couldn't even dent them with a shovel. Finally, he had to pick his way, clearing a path around the drifts. It wasn't the most direct route to the barn, but under the circumstances we weren't complaining!

The barn cats however were complaining. There was a snow drift blocking their regular "kitty entrance" in the front door of the barn. There they were - all 28 of them - sitting right behind the door when we opened it! What a cat-tastrophe!

Even when the kitties got out of the barn, the drifts were too deep for them to maneuver - they just sank! It didn't take them long to discover our path though, and they've been frolicking up and down, to and from the barn ever since.

By now of course, Indy and Ami have their weaving trails all over the pasture. Viewed from upstairs it looks like a bunch of drunks have been wandering around out there. Horses are constitutionally incapable of walking in a straight line. It must be a prey animal thing. They have been enjoying themselves, and that's the important thing. Indy - who was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - says this is the first decent winter he's seen since he moved here to the southland.