Ramblings from the Ranch

Howdy Pardners
Been a tough week at the ranch. Chief said goodbye (or woof for you canine followers) and went home to his daddy. Kinda quiet around here now except for the usual sounds of my 3 stooges. Miss our morning snuggle time...however, Riley and Shadow are making up for that by joining Bear and I in the bed first thing in the morning. Ok, mental picture alert...picture me, 1 130lb dog, 1 30lb dog and 1 25 lb dog all in a double bed....ain't a whole lotta room and momma's usually the one pushed to the floor. But, if you've never experienced a "dogpile" you just ain't experienced life. Just something about the 3 of them and me all in a pile, wrestling and snarling and woofing....makes for a good morning. Sorry you missed it Chiefers.......you'll have to come visit again.

Life at the horse farm was a little rough this past weekend. Mares can get a little moody, especially if they are in heat. Ouch! Got myself horsebit 3 times this past weekend. Once in the shoulder and twice in the gut. Don't recommend it, hurts just a wee tad bit, but hey, as long as there ain't no blood.....The first bite in the morning really surprised me. Penny is one of the sweetest natured pony's I"ve ever met. Now pony's can generally be moody, especially if they are around full size horses...its kinda like they've got a chip on their shoulders and something to prove because they are the shortest ones in the pasture (hmmm...sounds a little like your's truly at times..go figure). Anyhoo, Miss Penny just wasn't herself Saturday, making all kinds of weird moans and whinnies and out of the blue she took a swing at me. Missed me, phew, that could've hurt. But then I let me guard down and bam, right in the shoulder, got me right between her huge front teeth. Didn't tear my shirt and no blood so no big deal, right? Wrong...little while later in the morning she took another swing at me and barely nipped me in the gut. Again, no torn clothes and no blood. I can do this, no problem. Most of the rest of the day was uneventful. Several lessons didn't show so we had some time on our hands to talk and get to know each other. Afternoon lessons usually involve our 2 most difficult ponies, Peaches and April. Hopefully soon, I"ll have some pictures of the "girls" to post. Anyway, Peaches is built like a mac truck and has to be the most beautiful golden pony I've ever seen. Looks can be deceiving though, when she's in the pasture or just hangin out, she's wonderful. When there is a rider on her back, look out, she will take you in a heartbeat. I love Peaches and haven't had any issues with her...yet. Saturday I got to work with April. First time with this one, she's old and grumpy and her personality is way worse than Peaches reputation. I groomed her and fed her no problems whatsoever. Got a rider on her back and she changed. No sooner had we started when she started swinging out to bite me. Missed me three or four times and I got a tighter grip on her halter. The Director was giving instruction to the rider and we were coming towards her, I shifted my attention for one second and wham, she got me...right in the stomach. I thought the director was going to have heart failure. Are you ok, are you bleeding....she made such a huge deal out of it. Now don't get me wrong, I understand her concern...I just hate having a big deal made out of anything and we had a rider up and I wasn't bleeding, stomach hurt but I think my pride was hurt more than my stomach. I just wanted to finish the lesson. She asked if I wanted her to take over and I told her no. I knew if I gave her the pony, I'd be afraid of her from here on out. I was determined to finish the lesson. Director decided she would take over for a while and I had to fight feeling defeated, like I"d failed somehow because I got bit and the pony was taken away from me. She did finally give her back to me and let me finish the lesson, she still tried to bite me again but I had a good grip on her this time. I succeeded by finishing the lesson. The rider dismounted and I took April back to her pen....she didn't try to bite me once after the rider dismounted, go figure!! Still have a real pretty bruise on my stomach but the bruise on my pride is still a little bigger. Thats ok, I'll redeem myself this weekend back at the ranch!!

For all you students out there, you will appreciate when I say, its "crunch time". I"ve got about 3-4 weeks to go and I will be finished with my veterinarian assistant courses....I can't believe the 2 years is almost up. I"ve got 11 more classes/tests to go and not very much time to do it in. I need focus, concentration, quiet and time to get it all done....just in case anybody feels like praying, that would be awesome.

Well its bedding down time at the ranch, the old man is sprawled in the doorway, Bear just flopped down next to him and the big dog is somewhere in the house....can hear her snoring already.


oh, I guess I should mention that Dad has been sick and apparently has bladder and kidney cancer. they removed the tumor in his bladder this past Friday, not sure what they are doing with the kidney yet.