FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 12

[FrogInABlender]

In other news, I think I may have managed to sell Goose, even though I really didn’t care if I did or not. Some friends/in-laws of mine, Gabe and Courtney, had met this couple at Many Cedars horse camp, up in TN, a few weeks ago and through the course of the conversation discovered that they were looking for a blue roan gaited horse, so they told them about mine. So long story short, I sent them an e-mail with a couple of pictures and priced him (probably for too little) and they are interested. I talked to the girl for over an hour and a half last night on the phone and she sounds like the kind of person that I would trust to have one of my horses, so we’ll see if it works out. She’s got to sell one of her horses first, but she’s got a lady coming to look at him this Saturday, so if she sells hers she and her husband want to come look at Goose on Sunday and possibly take him for a test ride. We could load up Goose, Bob and Hope, so all 3 of us could ride, and go out to the Forest or something. She’ll let me know by Saturday evening if she’s coming or not, so we’ll see what the weekend brings.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, good luck and if it’s a good match, I hope it happens!

Today we’ll be a little busy... Hubby just took Wicket in to drop her off to be spayed, and if all goes well with the trailer guy getting the trailer to the shop this morning, we’ll be picking it up this afternoon/evening.

Oh - and our drain field is in fact failed. We get water on top of the tank when I run laundry. So the landlord has been notified. I had hoped we could eek it along longer, but he’ll investigate running a new drain field.

[FrogInABlender]

I’ve been lurking over on HH this morning so I’ll be thinking about you and Wicket today as she goes in to get spayed and you head off to pick up the travel trailer.

Is ecurbh going with you? What time are you leaving?

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah - we’ll go as soon as we know it’s done and ecurbh can get away from work. Not sure yet what time for either of those events.

Wicket will have to stay overnight... she’s going to our regular pet vet, not the low cost feral place, so our vet wants her to stay overnight. I sortof like that the feral place lets you take them home as soon as they’re sortof awake, but Wicket is so sweet and tame she deserves better handling than the assembly line feral place, soo....

[FrogInABlender]

Heh, if I’d just waited a little longer I would’ve caught your post before I posted mine.

Bummer about the drain field. Hopefully the landlord will pay for replacing that. After all, it IS part of his property, and especially since you paid to have it pumped out the last time.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yes, the landlord will pay for it. And really, they paid the septic pump too. We paid for the septic pump in lieu of rent this month, because it was about the same amount, between the roto rooter guy and the pumping.

And in eeking it along for the last five years, I think I’ve saved them about 20 grand. When it failed the first time (or hadn’t failed yet but was fail-ing) five years ago, I don’t know how much you remember from that, but the county determined from the map that this was a high water table flood prone area and said they needed a fancy engineered system. I knew they were wrong, this area is all sand and drains really well. Well they dug six holes with a backhoe out there, six feet deep, and none of them had water in them ever. They did a winter high water level test and even in the wettest month on record those holes never held water. You couldn’t fill them even if you ran a hose into them I’m sure. I saw him out there looking in November and December when it had been raining a month straight, and would say “there’s no water in them is there?” “Nope” And I’d go out and take a dated picture just in case he said otherwise.

See, about a mile from here, and across the freeway, there is an area that floods. It’s different than here, it’s just the map shows it’s close. I knew it was not like that here. Even now with the failed drain field, the hole where the tank lids are (I left it uncovered the last month to watch it) will fill with water when I run laundry, but five minutes later it’s gone. The only reason it’s failed now is root invasion I’m sure. It’s in the woods behind the house, snaking between all those old firs.

They’ll dig a new line a new direction, and the same thing will happen, but it may be twenty years. At any rate, it should be a $3000 problem instead of a $20,000 problem.

[FrogInABlender]

I always like to take mine home after a spay too, once they’ve woken up a little bit. My vet also recommends that they stay in a crate until the next day, but at least he lets me take them home.

I guess keeping them is your vet’s way of ensuring that they stay confined. But he should know by now that you’re a responsible enough pet owner to follow his instructions, so he might give in and let you take her home this afternoon if you pressed him. She might be less nervous if she were back in familiar surroundings as soon as possible. But you know her better than me.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, now that we’ve got the trailer project this afternoon it’s just as well that they want to keep her. We’ll be busy anyway, and I guess she’ll likely be sleeping it off anyway. She doesn’t get rattled and stressed, if there’s noise and strange activity at the clinic, she’d probably think that was pretty fun to watch. She was all eager and interested in everything when I brought her in for shots, she’s like “WOW! cool! New stuff!”

I think they worry about infection maybe too, since the females are a little more invasive of a surgery. Males can come home same day, unless there’s a strange reaction to the anesthesia.

I’ll probably keep her in the cage for a few days at least, like I did the others. We didn’t keep Tweek quiet long enough and she ripped her stitches and had to be re-done.

[FrogInABlender]

Well that’s good that you didn’t really have to pay for the pumping. I remember you saying that about the rent now, but not until you mentioned it. He sounds like a pretty good landlord. Hopefully he knows what a good tenant he has too.

[FrogInABlender]

...She doesn’t get rattled and stressed, if there’s noise and strange activity at the clinic, she’d probably think “WOW! cool! New stuff!”...

LOL!! You sure you don't have a DOG there instead of a cat?! She sure doesn't sound like MY cats. When I take them to the vet's they're like "This...is...not...happening...", like they're trying to will themselves into disappearing into thin air. Poor little boogers!

[HairOfTheDog]

That whole litter was like that, those four anyway. They never get stressed about anything. The people that took Yoda and Butters said the same thing about when they brought theirs in to the vet, and I think the other black one Sedona has is the same way.

Much different than the other cats I’ve had. Pippin and Tweek aren’t too bad, but they get pretty subdued at the vets and don’t want to come out of the carrier. Not Wicket, she was wanting to explore everything, but she was perfectly content to be pet too. She just didn’t wasn’t afraid at all, even when dogs in the next room were making a lot of noise.

[HaveFaith]

I hope you get to go to the World. That's quite an accomplishment and would help sell some of your horses probably. We went to the Racking Horse Celebration last night and the guy who talked me into showing Daisy said I should show her there. I was shocked. I said those were just "country boy" shows and the Cel. was big time. He said, yeah, it was, but Daisy was as good as he'd seen there (flat shoes, not that padded stuff). Said the politics might interfere some, but she would be a hit. Yours are so loud and fancy looking. They are always a hit to see.

Hal took Sasha (AQHA) to the sale barn yesterday and ran cows and penned them on her. I was shocked. He said after a couple of runs with a horse that knew what to do, she took to it and ran right up on their heels and put them in the pens and let him close the gates off her and everything. There were people hollering, cracking whips, and cows bellowing, gates clanging everywhere and it didn't phase her. I wish I could have seen it. Said the "cowboys" couldn't believe it was her first time around cows and they thought she was great looking, too.

Hal took Spec to the vet this am and he has an infection in the roof of his mouth and jagged teeth. He medicated the infection and gave him bute and floated his teeth. It should help him with the "head shyness" and tossing it with the bit. Poor old guy. The horse books are right sometimes about there being a physical problem causing a behavioral problem.

[FrogInABlender]

That whole litter was like that, those four anyway.

Well, that probably has a lot to do with they way they were raised. They were so tiny when you found them and then they got the "Total Immersion" treatment with the dogs and such, they just think that kind of stuff is normal. Heck, they probably THINK they're dogs! It's definitely good for them to be what way, at least to me.

[FrogInABlender]

Wow! That is SO cool about Sasha! I’ll bet her net worth went up several thousand dollars after that little show, and who knows, Hal might get bit by the Team Penning bug and want to start doing that some. Sounds like she’d be a good one to do it on. If he could get somebody to teach her how to be a rope horse you could REALLY get a pretty penny for her, with her color and everything. Hal ought to say something to Pistol about possibly taking her and training her. He does that kinda thing.

[HaveFaith]

She did get alot of exposure and people asking about her, but they were short handed and busy and the kids working it didn't make much. Maybe one's got a rich daddy. He said he had fun, so maybe he'll take her back. I told him it would be nice if somebody that roped could try her out. She'd prob. be good at that, too. They haven't even seen her papers. I know papers don't mean alot, but at least she's a mare and she can have babies with good papers, looks, and brains.

[FrogInABlender]

Hal ought to find himself a Team Penning buddy (I have no idea how many makes up a "team") and enter her in one of the little local competitions, kinda like you did with the gaited horse show, and see how she does. Surely with all the "networking" he does every morning with all the Old Farts down at the store he can find out something. Sounds like he enjoyed it, and it definitely shows a horse that there's a reason for what you're asking them to do, other than "because I said so".

[HaveFaith]

Waterhead was talking about somebody getting a new one started somewhere at the last horse sale. He knows people that do it and he loves it.

[FrogInABlender]

What, Waterhead likes Team Penning? I’ve heard of people doing well at it on a gaited horse. LOL! I can just see him and little Elmo out there herding cows around. They’d raise a few eyebrows to be sure. ;o)

[HairOfTheDog]

Becky, I hope you come into town tomorrow, we haven't heard from you in days! If you don't... I'm going to call!

We got the trailer home! It was a bit of a saga getting it ready at the shop today, we did end up having to repack the bearings for a couple hundred bucks, and there were issues with the wiring for the lights, but it's home now and safe in the driveway.

We can't get it off the truck... the hitch lock appears to work a little too well. It's rusty and stuck. But we'll solve that tomorrow when it's light.

Tomorrow I'll clean it and start stocking it with our stuff before we move it out into the pasture. That will be the fun part, making it a little homey. :~)

[FrogInABlender]

Well I’m glad you got it home. I can’t see the pictures at work, but I saw the ones you took when you bought it. I’ll check them out later when I get home.

Those hitch locks can be a pain sometimes, depending on what kind they are. I’ve had troubles with them on hay trailers before and just about pulled my hair out. It’ll probably take a screwdriver and/or a hammer to get it loose. Hopefully once you grease it good it won’t be a problem again.

It’ll be interesting to see what the horses think of the new addition to their pasture and to see whether or not they chew on it. I finally had to move my big white trailer out of the pasture because SOMEBODY kept jerking all the wiring loose, chewing the plug ends and peeling up the anti-slip coverings on the tops of the fenders. Worse than a bunch of teething puppies!