A Seabird to Comfort

My husband, Casey and I got home around noon on Sunday after spending Thanksgiving with his family in Napa.  After unpacking the car I was off to go find Autumn.  I wasn't long after I had Autumn in her stall that Cindy wandered up to the barn with Syria, Autumn's best friend horse.  "Do you want to go to the beach?".  Forty five minutes later we were on their backs riding next to the surf.  The wind was still, the waves clapped and the sky was washed in a water color of quiet clouds. 
We strolled along in a peaceful daze until something caught our eyes.  Autumn and I noticed a little tiny form not to far away.  We walked closer to inspect and there before us was some type of seabird.  He was black and duck shaped, with a long point tipped bill, with a white belly and blue feet.  He looked up at us and of course, I started to worry out a plan for him.  Autumn stretched out her neck and sniffed to him while Syria had a "I'm not getting close to that thing!" look on her face.  Cindy and I decided that we would ride a bit more and if he was still there on our way back that we would take him home. 
Well, the rest of the ride for me was making a game plan for the little guy.  I could get off Autumn, carry him back to the parking lot, put him in a bucket for the ride home, tuck Autumn in her stall, bring him home, feed him canned tuna, put him in a dog crate with hay...wait...wait...no. A towel.  Would I need a heating lamp?  How would I feed him with that pointy bill?  What time in the morning does that wildlife rescue center open anyway?  With all that chitter chatter in my head I didn't realize that we were already standing back over him.  I got off Autumn and walked up to the little guy unsure what to do.  I looked at Autumn and she was giving me the same eye contact that she gives me when she wants a cookie except she followed it up by looking at the little seabird then back to me.  She repeated this a few times before I got the message.  I bent down and scooped up the little guy without any fight.  He was very weak but not too weak to have diarrhea all over my coat that I wrapped him in (no good deed goes unpunished as my good friend Karen likes to say). 
As we headed back to the trailer Autumn could not keep her eyes off of him.  She would sniff him gently on one side of me and then she would cross behind me and then sniff him gently on the other side.  She did this for our entire 30 minute walk back to the trailer. 


Autumn comforting the weak little seabird.

 By the time we made it back to the trailer the poor little seabird seemed close to flying up to heaven.  I decided that maybe it would be more peaceful for him to be by his home for the last part of his journey instead of my dog crate.   I found a little spot close to the dunes and promised that I would check on him on my work break the next day.  We all wished him well and hoped for the best. 
The next day on my lunch break I drove to the beach and scrambled as fast as I could through the sand to the spot where I had left him.  I found him there but he was gone.  I felt bad that maybe I should have taken him home and tried harder but the whispering wind and the song of the sea's waves somehow made me feel that it was better for him to be where he was laid. 

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Copyright (c) 2011 Jacksonhillhorseygirl.com

Wrong Side Of The Stall

Somedays, Autumn just gets up on the wrong side of the stall.  On those wrong side of the stall mornings, I know without turning on the lights that she's having one.  Her glare pierces through the morning darkness striking up the "oh great!" feeling inside me. 

Just give me a cookie and no one will get hurt.

There is no nicker on these mornings, no friendly nuzzles.  It's strictly get me my food to her or else!!!  What's or else?  Thumping her giant hooves against her stall so hard that the entire barn rattles and shutters making the automatic waterers cough out their water.  I bet she has registered a 4.8 on the Richter scale when she has had her monthly visitor in town and I haven't been quick enough serving her breakfast.  I don't waste any time making a behavior teaching lesson out of this.  It's not worth it.  I just get her breakfast.  I don't even bother to brush her on these days.  I just do my barn chores as she scowls at me in between snatches of hay. 
It's not just me that she gives the scowl to.  It's every horse in the barn.  If Willy, the gelding in the stall across from her, is in she'll just stare at him all night long with her ears pinned back.  Unfortunately, Autumn's plan of making him feel like crap about himself backfires because Willy seems to be into that hate/love sort of thing.  He just looks at her with hearts dancing in his eyes.

I skip the riding on these days.  Riding on these days is never one of those magical blog worthy moments.

Autumn having a "that time of the month" ride

When she's finished eating, I walk her to the pasture down the quickest path possible.  It's not an easy task walking an 1850 pound PMS-ing, ears cocked back with eyes flaming cookie monster filly.  Relieved when I reach the gate, I take off her halter, give her a cookie that she almost rips my arm off for and then she thanks me with the  "that's it?" death stare.  Still alive but shaky after that if looks could kill moment, she will stomp way her past me giving me the old tail swish right in the face as she bitches her way across the pasture and through the herd.  I don't mind going to work on these days and even make it there a little early.

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Copyright (c) 2011 Jacksonhillhorseygirl.com

Pee On

At the veterinary hospital, I have to schedule the occasional horse castration.  There always seems to be an air of awkwardness for both the client and myself when booking this type of appointment.  The clients problem stems from not knowing what to call this procedure.  The normal terms for the procedure are "castration" or "gelding".  Stumbling over what to call it, I've had clients ask to have their horse "neutered" or  to have his "testicles amputated" or he needs his "nuts chopped off".  Sometimes it takes me a minute to figure it out when a client tells me their horse needs "brain surgery" or a "vasectomy" or his "tubes tied".
Once the client has spit out their request, I then get to hit the awkward question ball right back in their court by asking something they never prepared me to ask in college ..."Have both of his testicles dropped?"  There's always a few seconds of dead air on the line until I get an "Ah?" or a "hum" and then I usually get "How do I know?".  This is the second best thing I get to say when booking this type of appointment "You'll have to feel for them."   Good bye pride!  33 years old and I get to ask people at work... Have you grab your horse's balls lately?  
A normal response is something along the lines of why wouldn't he have them both?  I then have to explain that sometimes one testicle is hanging solo while  his buddy is hiding up in the body somewhere. This is called a cryptorchid.  If one isn't swinging next to his dance partner the simple 1 hour procedure with one doctor turns into a two doctor search and destroy mission. 
Last year, we did have a cryptorchid castration to do.  The doctors had the horse lay into an easy sleep under general anesthesia.  He was propped up in a cradle, laying on his back with legs up in the air.  The procedure was going well, we got the first testicle who was at home base and the doctors went out to seek out the one that was hiding.  Luckily, this sucker wasn't to far from where it should have been.  The doctor was starting the removal when the horse started to pee.  "Grab his Penis!" the doctor yelled at me.  Well, I grabbed a hold of that slippery sucker and redirected the stream away from the incision site and bam!  I peed it right in my face.  The normally unfailing concentration of the doctors was broken to laugh at my new facial.  I got a little pissed off but I've seen both of those guys get diarrheaed in the face horses and cows and I was over it.  Now I just felt a part of the club.  After the procedure, I wiped off my new membership as the horse recuperated just fine after his "brain surgery".
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Copyright (c) 2011 Jacksonhillhorseygirl.com

Saddling Up with Poncho for St. Jude

Autumn and I would like to thank all of you that sponsored us in the Saddle Up For St. Jude Children's Hospital fundraiser ride.  We raised $560.00 for a great cause!  You guys are awesome! 

Autumn and I riding for St. Jude Children's Hospital.

 I was a little nervous that I wasn't going to be able to get Autumn to the St. Jude ride because my trusty traveling and trailering companion, Cindy,  was away on a trip.  About a year ago, my great friend Diane had bought a new extra high extra wide trailer just to fit Autumn in with her horse Poncho.  Like I said she's had the trailer over a year and I never once dared put Autumn in there with Poncho. Why would I not put Autumn in a trailer that my totally awesome friend bought just so we could go off and have a great time together with our horses???  Fear that's why!  Autumn hates Poncho.  When she was little...okay the size of a normal horse....Poncho used to rough house with her pretty hard and when she got bigger it was pay back time.  Every time she sees Poncho she pins her ears, gives him the death look and goes after him.  I couldn't imagine locking them in a crammed box together side by side.  I had visions of Autumn kicking his legs clean off or driving down the road and seeing Poncho getting kicked straight through the wall of the trailer and bouncing down the road.  With the St. Jude ride being such an important event and with Diane's reassurance we gave it a try (not without me making her promise that if Autumn hurt Poncho that I was going to pay all of his vet bills).  Diane bravely put Poncho in the first half of the trailer and shut the divider.  I lured Autumn in with a flake of alfalfa hay.  As soon as she got in there and saw who was tucked next to her the bitch ass glare from hell flamed across her face. Oh crap!  I was getting ready for her to rip the divider out with her teeth and chuck it out the door and beat the life out of poor Poncho when she noticed her alfalfa hay and she started eating.  That was it.   No blood.  No bone crushing.  No high speed trip to the horsey E.R.    Diane and I were totally jazzed that now we could hit the open road with our tolerant equines partners.

On the road with Diane & Poncho

Saturday rolled around and Diane trailered us up to Orick, which is the home of the tallest tree in the world, a redwood measuring  379 feet!  The day was beautiful and the crowd of people were friendly.  Diane and I decided to ride off towards the beach with six other gals.

The Beach Babes gathering at the water hole.

We followed and crossed Redwood Creek.  We passed under highway 101 back up on to the levy and through green pastures dotted with grazing cattle.  Autumn didn't quite know what to think of the cows. 

What the hell is a cow and what does "Moo" mean?

She was coiling up beneath me getting ready to floor it out of town but Poncho stepped up before her keeping his cool.  Like a gallant knight he lead her safely past these mooing, projectile pooping oddities.  After that big event, Autumn and I calmly strolled along, marveling that we were encircled by mountains covered in the biggest redwoods in the world, flanked by green pastures,  a twinkling river, the Pacific ocean before us and great friends surrounding us all helping the same great cause.

On a side note... On October 28th Autumn turned 5 years old.  My little Filly is growing up!  Where does the time go?   Happy Birthday Autumn! 

Autumn enjoying her birthday mush cake thing I made her.

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Copyright (c) 2011 Jacksonhillhorseygirl.com