Ominous Phemomenon

Fall is ominous for Equestrians. Winter is a lot of hard work. For people who spend a lot of time outdoors, its also a lot of dark.

For me, as a batik artist, its ominous another way. I do a lot of my work outside due to the fumes of  a large pot of hot wax which I apply to fabric.. When its cold, and the fabric is cold, the wax doesn't flow well. All work in progress must be completed soon. This is a finished piece, just so you can see.

We could still have some pretty hot weather coming up. I remember a Jessica Ransehousen clinic I rode in where the temp was 105 in the shade, on October 1st.

I have been parsing Yndi, the buckskin with the help of Ross Jacobs and Warwick Schiller on YouTube. So I have a very alpha horse, who is lacking in confidence, and is also a pony mare and 22 years old. I am recognizing the problems better, but still seem to have them.

I have been driving Pepper, but that is going slow. (I spent two days sick in bed, only to come out to a sink overflowing with dirty dishes.) If I can get past the first mile up the road, the steepness drops off. Right now, Its like weightlifting for 15 minutes.

I took both ponies to the regional park nearby. Dave helped. I took the cart in case I wanted to drive Pepper, and I did, but just around the staging area. She was a little tense. I figured as long as things were not getting worse, we were OK. It actually got better.

Yndi stood tied to the trailer practicing not losing her shit.

I was really happy with that.

Then I spent two days getting the trailer turned around in my barnyard, ready for the next trip. Its a very small space. Most of our acreage is vertical.

When I offloaded the harness from the trailer, I parked in on Yndi before getting it to the barn. She started licking and chewing when I put it on. A good sign, I think.

I think Yndi has another hoof abscess. She should have been shod all summer, even if she wasn't driving. Our ground is so unforgiving. My shore comes Thursday. She's poulticed in Epsom salt right now. Maybe I'll just put her in steel instead of plastic and keep poulticing. It might resorb, it might erupt.

Tire Rotation

Yesterday I drove to town to have my tires rotated and shop for groceries. It was a five hour wait for the tires. Add feed store, Rx, supermarket. Then I got stuck in the bay area commute. Total time away from home: ten hours.

Everybody got fed.

That is all.

A waste of a day.

Hot

I went very early on Friday and drove Pepper. We went up the road and back, total round trip was less than half a mile. She has to be in good enough shape to get up nearly a mile of steep hill before the road gets more level. Then we can have a nice drive.

We went up the to "Road Narrows" sign, where the single lane becomes two. Coming down, its a good thing my cart has breaks. Most drivers advise against breaks on a cart because slowing the wheels increases the weight on the equines back. Pepper is very sensitive about too much pressure in the breeching, but she can carry me on her back at 125 lbs. (Sadly, a little, her conformation makes saddle fit difficult because her heart girth is forward of her withers and so the saddle gets pulled forward onto her shoulders. Neither of us likes the riding part anyway.)
She is fine with breaks on the cart.

Her nose wrinkle was better, but not gone completely. How "right" does a horse have to be to work? A good question. I think the heat is taking its tole. We got most of our drive done while it was still morning-cool. When it started to heat up, it went up fast.

One hundred and seventeen degrees Fahrenheit. That's 47 degrees Centigrade. Its hard to breath when its that hot.

I went out frequently all day and gave them a shower, then returned them to the shady oak trees.
Saturday it only got to 112 F,  44 C. There were pony showers, I took Yndi the the round en early in the morning for 20 minutes of walk.

Today the forecast call for 108 F, 42 C. I am going to a Rabbit Haven event in Sunnyvale so Dave is in charge of showering the ponies.