Perseids and Gila Monsters

[dancinghorse]

Fabulous Perseid last night: the first clear night in some time, this being monsoons and often socked in with lightning, with the Milky Way pouring down the sky (I live in astronomer heaven, there are many in my little town) and the Swan on the zenith. I looked up and two large, very bright meteors leaped apart from one another and headed in opposite directions.

We may not see much tonight. I smell rain. casacorona 17 miles SW of me is being relentlessly hammered. So far we've just had glancing blows, sprinkles and spits of rain but nothing serious.

This morning as I went out to run errands (had to pick up t*x packet at accountant's, wince flinch ouch ouch ouch), a baby gila monster headed across the road by the next property down. It was a lissome thing, maybe a third the size of an adult, and it stopped to glare at my car, but when the car didn't move, it trucked on off the road at top speed for a gila monster--the living image of Determination.

I think I should model my life on that little monster.

We are still roofless. Insurance procedure crawls along. I hope to have the barn put back together by September, please god. Pieces of it are coming down without the roof to support them, and the stalls are warping slowly but surely into odd shapes. The horses make do with part of a temporary shelter and the whole of another, and a few bits of roof. Luckily the netbud's new stallion who is coming here from California for a couple of weeks before being evaluated and shipped home to Oklahoma is not arriving the 20th as advertised, but will be leaving his birth farm on the 29th. The hauler is a QH breeder from up near Phoenix, and grew up in Vail--nice little bit of serendipity. I'll ask him about possibly bringing Tia down in November, if he seems as good as advertised.

At any rate, this young gentleman is no longer going to arrive in the middle of Cleanup Weekend, when a bunch of us tackle the debris of the past decade, haul off all the old dead fence panels and bits of wire and broken hay pallets and on and on, and make repairs and spiff up the place so Teacher Who Must Be Obeyed is not unduly embarrassed to be teaching strangers on Lipizzans in her clinic the day before the evaluations. (September 16th. If you're interested, check for details here and click on the Gala page. This is a great relief. I might even have a barn to put him in by the time he gets here.

He goes by the nickname of Daystar. I don't know if his breeder realizes what this really means. I do hope he doesn't live up to said meaning. Really.

And yes, we are wondering how Pooka will handle another stallion on the place. To date he's been the soul of courtesy to new arrivals; the only horse he truly hates is keed. But we haven't tested him with a 4yo stallion. And there will be a 3yo staying here evals weekend, and it's rather likely there will be an older, ex-Excalibur stallion here at least for the clinic. With luck Pooka's hardwiring will kick in and his hormones shut down and he'll be Perfect. We can hope.

Meanwhile, in true Perversity of the Universe fashion, his heretofore exemplary feet have gone crumple and he has a quarter crack the size of the Marianas Trench. He has had to have vet and shoer in conference, and serious repair$. With more to come and Curt the Wonder Shoer promises cosmetic acceptability plus full soundness on evaluation day. Which had better happen because he's the conformation demo pony. Naturally this would have to happen now.

I have to say, if he had to have an hour's worth of major work with vet and shoer all over him, at least he made his mama proud. The vet was astonished and deeply impressed. Not many stallions, he said, would stand that quietly for that long, including 20 solid minutes with his foot up being measured, dremeled (first power tool he ever had on his precious bod), and patched. All he did was turn his head occasionally to make sure he had all his mares in sight. When the dremeling started, he put his nose in my hand and sighed, being patient.

During this process, keed was being keed, i.e. cracking up the vet tech by shaking the big mesquite tree on the far side of the arena to knock down beans, which his mother then ate. That's my keed, clown to the bone.

I haven't been doing much riding, between major heat (July was the hottest month on record in Tucson) followed by major monsoons, and endless assorted duck-nibblage throughout. Lesson days have been about training the Girlz to walk and trot in hand for inspection, and training them to load on the trailer. This is ongoing. Camilla, who we thought would present the most problems--she can grow roots when confused--has turned out to be as easy as can be. She loves it. She's still not totally sure about those back feet on that high step-up, but she has the backing-out part down cold. Wonderful balance that mare has. Gaudia has the most challenging job because although she's actually taller than Camilla, she's just 2 and the step is awfully high for her. Ephiny is quite a bit taller so has a much easier time of it. Her thing is being Extremely Alpha and also being a Teenager. However she has a wonderful mind when it's not having adolescent-bitch-queen fits, and she makes a conscious decision to work with me, including staying calm when frightened. Which is an excellent mind for a horse to have.

Our next session is Monday, when our marathon runner, who is also Joni's longest-lasting student (I'm number two), comes to meet the Girlz and see if they can work together. We need speed and we need scope to show them off in hand, and she has it. Also, stamina, though they do set up a nice slipstream which you can ride as they go.

I have managed to put Pandora back under saddle, helped by biting the bullet and buying a new saddle that actually fits keed, Capria, and Pandora. My old one is a bit narrow in the channel for them. Keed always hated it. Capria always had an area of resistance in the middle of her back, which is now gone. And Pandora would squeal and take off, which she is no longer doing. She had chiro this week and is much looser as a result, got a very good report from the Feelgood Lady although she has a weird spinal reflex in the right hind, which collapses when flexed and only when flexed. No neurological problems, no movement problems. Just this strange thing. Chiro thinks it's a sign of old EPM--long since recovered from, but she has this odd little bit to remember it by.

Ember's neck is much better. She's out with the big herd and coping well, and yes, she is indeed pregnant. There were twins, but we're hoping she's absorbed one. We'll find out on the 23rd when she has her 45-day.

She's staying through the Gala--lynnesite is our photographer and she and the baby's owner decided to make one trip rather than try to manage two. Yes, my barn does runneth over, need you ask? Ember is very easy to have around, so it's no problem to have her here.

We are also working on books. Yes. Really. In spite of everything. My formerly direct line of advance through a draft has turned into Celtic knotwork with the new one, which is interesting if rather frustrating when Ye Ed gets impatient because my dears, it is Late. Oh so Late. But it will be done. Really. Seriously. Soon.

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking of you today! Guns, Germs and Steel, which I'm watching late, had some lovely Spanish dressage demonstrations -- Spanish of Spain, illustrating tactics Pizarro's men would have known.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Moral support. moral support. God to hear from you, and here's hoping your Morningstar doesn't live up to his name....

Or if he does, it's to be a perfect gentleman.

[cindershadow.livejournal.com]

You sound like you have resolved your saddle questions, so this is no doubt too late to be of use. (I should have commented when this was being discussed some months ago!) However, for what it's worth . . . I use an Ansur treeless saddle on my Lipizzan and also often on my Quarter Horse, and I really like it, as far as traditional leather saddles go. (I'm timid, so the saddle I like on MY side of the connection is the Wintec Isabell Wirth--DEEP and secure seat and huge knee-rolls, with that velcro-like surface which holds you on tightly even in blue jeans). I will say, however, that from the first time I used the Ansur, the QH immediately lengthened his walk (and other gaits, but that was easiest to quantify . . . we went from about 11 steps per 24 foot of fenceline to 9+ steps, with no change in speed). I think the flexibility of the treeless model frees up their backs and shoulders and thus allows better use of the hindquarters; why should a horse push up from behind when he can't follow through without hitting a saddle tree? It's what the trainer I bought my Lipizzan from was already using on him, so I can't make a hard data comparison for him. I use a Skito pad under it; I think I'd have to have used some sort of cutaway for it to have worked on my old TB with withers like the spine of the Andes, but these rounder guys do well in it. Anyway . . . if you are interested, they have a website, and used models are out there, which is what I got. (Free advice: worth every cent you paid for it!)

I really feel for your barn problems. We just finished setting up pens and covers on my trainer's new place here in Southern California, which, fortunately for my guys who will live there, went well; she had to fire her barn "renovators" after they ran two months late and damaged lots of supplies. Good luck to you as you do your pre-Gala cleanup! (And now, back to lurking . . . )

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

There is so much light pollution and fog in the Bay Area that I can never see the Perseids, and they were so wonderful to watch when I was a kid living in the Rockies.

[rethought.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping the weather evens out. Guess I'll have to send some of these nice cool, calm days your way. :)

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

You have my support. Just point me in the direction and I'll go. ;)
-=Jeff=-

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Slightly OT: Jeff discovers Twix-pix tonight. *beam* Sing: I want to play with the Twix!
-=Jeff=-

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Ooo, I'll have to find that. Where's it being aired?

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Now there's a nice thought. He's just 4, so likely to still be a wide-eyed kid. The question is whether Pook will go into Kill Da Wabbit mode (this can be literal) or opt for the much more desirable Vienna mode, in which stallions in groups get along just fine. But they aren't anywhere near mares. He's on home turf with mares he has bred.

We can only wait and see.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

*ringers firmly crossed*

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've been aware of this saddle since it first came out. Some people love it, some hate it. I don't love it. Just got flamed badly for saying so on a mailing list actually--for some, it's a religious issue. Especially with Pandora, but also with Pook, the tree of a saddle makes them sittable without splitting in two and/or ending up in a chair seat. Pook has the added and dubious delight of actively (as in wild bucking fits) disliking any movement directly on his back. He is Not A Bareback Horse, Oh No No No.

The Thornhill is wide enough in the channel that it really works for the three I have with withers. The two without seem to be OK with a narrower channel, and the Thornhill is actually too wide in the gullet for them. I can't believe the difference in Capria with her dippy back and high withers--she's voluntarily offering collected walk, which she has never done before. And Pandora has stopped squealing and offering to courbette (courbette on a Lipizzan this big is an experience one really does not want to repeat).

Your barn owner has all my sympathy.

Hey! You coming to the Gala? It's right down in Tucson.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

We got one! Thank you! Actually it's very British today--65F, slight wind, drizzling rain. Very un-desert-like.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Awwwww.

Ember is busy making Twix II: The Revenge even as we speak.

[cindershadow.livejournal.com]

Yes, saddle fit (from both the human and horse side of the equation) is intensely personal, and some folks do tend to feel that their perfect solution should be everyone's! Not me, however; it's like shoes for us, where one size/one style most certainly does NOT fit all. And the Ansur is definitely as close to bareback as one can be and still have a saddle on (another reason my TB wouldn't have liked it, so I can entirely relate to Pook). I'd love it if they'd build one with a narrow twist; that would make me feel much more secure in it. I fight the chair seat issue all the time, which is another reason I like the Wintec Wirth for me. I'm just glad you found something that's working . . . I own far too many "not quite right" saddles from going through this process myself over the years.

I'd love to come to the Gala, but I don't know that I can take the time out once school has started up again. I went to our "Lipizzan Festival" in Sacramento a couple of years ago when I was first contemplating buying into the breed, and I really recommend that experience as a way for newbies to get some insights. (It was cold, windy, and stormy, and all the Lipizzans handled the weather-related distractions with calm and poise; it was also interesting and instructive to see them doing everything from dressage to Western to driving to jumping.)

[lynnesite.livejournal.com]

Q is in the doghouse, he took Twix on walkabout today. They went FAR (no fences). And, predictably, were home before I was, chasing them in the truck. Twix got a bath, she has minor swelling in her ankles from trying to keep up with Uncle Q. Philip is also in trouble for having a voice like a GIRL and not calling them home sooner. Imagine a 16.1hh stallion that talks like a girl (unless he encounters another stallion). Twix was pretty wet, endurance horse Q was not even sweaty. Neighbor's big dogs had been over, everyone had fun with that, taking turns mock-chasing each other. They went on walkabout AFTER the dogs left, no excuses, Q got shoes yesterday after a month of injured-shoer woes which is probably his justification.

Sorry the barn repair is going so slowly. We are also celebrating this sudden "cold" spell with fog in the morning and temps in the 80s after a month in the triple digit oven, maybe that's another reason Q led the charge, they always feel so good when it cools off. Glad Em is enjoying her time with the herd, learning new Lippi vocabulary to impart to the troops when she gets home. She will be surprised at how tall Twix is. Her forelegs match Q's in circumference, sturdy baby.

I'll bet Mr. Pook will be a good boy. And I'm a little surprised that Gaudia is having any trouble with the trailer step-up height. Twix's latest thing is getting in and out of any trailer that comes visiting. She loads without a halter, at the slightest invitation or on her own. None of them have ramps, except mine, which she loves to stand on and survey her world. The guys are almost done with her circus-pony platform's construction. She is learning to trot in hand rather nicely, like all my guys have to be able to do.

Pandora in courbette, oh my! Nice to hear of the saddle's success. Looking forward to some more smooch time with her.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to tell you it was a month ago on PBS. There may well be a DVD that you can Netflix. http://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

No brain left here. Been workimg 10-12 hours every damn day for what seems like forever. The 20th is the last of it, and the worst.

I did a count of your yard. 8 now, plus two in Sept leaves no room to breathe! Glad some of them get along! Hope Pooka is a great host.

I clicked on the link, but no joy. Perhaps the site was overloaded. Will try again later.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

woot! I'll take two. I'll give up the cars, dogs, and house...and just have my own Twix:P
-=Jeff=-

Bought 'Song of Unmaking' Tonight

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

One gathers, from this one-month-old post plus casacorona's recent mention of how well Camilla and The Pook fared at The Gala, that things are likely to still be incredibly busy and complicated (though inquiring minds would love to hear a first-hand report when you can spare a few typing fingers for LJ again).

But I thought you'd appreciate hearing that I saw a stack of "Song of Unmaking" copies on the shelf tonight at my corner B&N in Manhattan (the one closest to where Tor's offices are, if that helps fix the geographic location for out-of-towners) and hastened to snap one up for my collection :-)

HLC in NYC

[raithen.livejournal.com]

for some reason I missed your comment first time through! Glad to hear the Twix-let is doing well, albeit wandering. Miss teeny-bobber JJ gave herself yet ANOTHER wire cut - back right, inside and above the hock -- on Friday, and is being a star about having it treated. Derma-gel is the filly-owner's friend, I'm learning. So I am looking forward to new fences (this weekend for JJ's field, I hope.)

and I assume Ember and Twix II in the oven are home now?

[lynnesite.livejournal.com]

So sad about the wire cut. I guess that's the good part of NO fences here except for their pipe pens. Yep, Em is home and the linchpin, Q won't take Twix away if Em is in her pen. I let both adults out to wander during the day if I'm home, then put one away and let Twix out. Derma-gel, eh? Sounds like something to have on the shelf. Twix has rubbed out mane, bad girl, but at least it will grow back.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

thanks. And for your reference, here's the link: Derma-gel I've used both the spray and the gel, and so far it is living up to the marketing hype. I got it from my vet the LAST time JJ cut herself.... Stinker. The chain link will be So. Nice.

Glad to hear all is well chez vous - and gotta say, I just got a copy of Peggy's Groundwork book and that's some nice work!! (no surprise, but cool anyway).

[lynnesite.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Congrats on the new fencing in your future. Peggy's revised Connected Riding book just came out--in German. The publisher has sold the rights to Trafalgar Square, so there will be an English version soon. Starring Mr. Q in half the shots, it was a late winter shoot, such a challenge. We hope to redo the Connected Groundwork book, the photos were not optimized for black and white, and it shows.

Brief funny about the CR book and Q, at least it's funny to me. I clicker-trained two of their "base" behaviors, and the "head down" one really stuck. I use it all the time, whether mounted or on the ground. All of those rider position photos with Peggy and Q, if his head wasn't down the shot couldn't have happened, so from behind the camera I would just say "head down" at the proper time, and he complied 100% of the time. Way cool.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

COOL on the new CR book - I've been debating getting it (I don't yet own it *shame* though I've wanted it for years) and now may just wait for the revised version. Mr. Q is GORGEOUS, after all.

And that is so.cool. re: the clicker training. I've done a LITTLE teensy bit of CT with a couple of our girls, mostly to get them over their "feet nailed to ground" syndrome. But I dragged the clicker out yesterday because Joey is very anti-saddle and bridle, and I thought it may help. She was a TAD pushy about the "treating" side of things, but I think it helped. I am really novice at using it, so it could be something I am doing (or not doing). I'd like to learn more, because it seems really powerful. Both Joey and Juno now lift their feet like stars - touch their hock or elbow and sat "foot please" and they hand it to you.