Moving On
I had to drive to my regular cubical today, a 45 minute trek versus the 15 minutes it took me to get the site we were implementing software at. Bummer. And right when road construction and gas prices seem to be on the rise.
After work, I rushed home to let the dog out and try to get some things done around the house. I rode Luke for about a half hour. He’s getting so much better. We did a lot of gait changes and changes of direction.
After I was done riding, I loaded Luke on the trailer to see how things would go doing it alone. Luke walked right in with me, I hooked him up and closed the divider (slant load). He got pretty nervous and left me a mess of manure to clean up. I made Luke stand for awhile then s-l-o-w-l-y get off the trailer. We repeated this about five times. He never relaxed completely, but he got better. At least I know I can get him on and off okay by myself.
The farrier is coming out tomorrow around 5 PM so I won’t be able to try the same thing with Murphy until Wednesday. With Murphy, I hope to load him and actually go to Rum River park. If I’m going to try and sell him as a trail horse, I’d feel better about it if I get him out myself this year.
I’m still not sure about selling Murphy now and having Luke all by himself. Luke was on his own for awhile when Finian was sold and we hadn’t bought Murphy yet. But not for very long and I worry that it’s not healthy for a horse to be alone. Maybe someone with more experience with this will comment. My farrier might have some ideas too, since he gets around to a lot of horse people.
It might sound like I’m all “moving on” and being the strong, independent woman that I am, that I am doing just fine. But that’s because I don’t want to bore you with all the emotional thoughts and feelings. And because I am trying to look forward and focus on the future. If I look behind me, at the love that I miss, I’ll just beat myself up with regrets and that doesn’t help anyone, especially not me.
So, I’m riding, walking the dog, loading trailers, and baking bread.
Here my bread dough is “resting”. Probably getting more rest than I am. My latest sleep deprivation moment occurred this morning when I woke up and realized I had changed into my pajama bottoms before going to bed, but I still had on my bra and t-shirt. And I’ve had a headache for five days, but enough whining.
This is my frig after I opened it, not realizing how totally covered with flour my hand was.
And this is the glorious finished product. I don’t know why it ended up with a big square blob in the middle, but it does taste good – crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
And for final entertainment value, this is the moon this morning. It was almost fully light out but the moon still showed up pretty bright (that’s Murphy down in the bottom right corner).
Almost bedtime now. The evenings go by way too fast.
I was also worried about Brandy being alone at my place. She came from a home that had 3 horses. Since I couldn’t afford another horse at the time, we decided to get a couple goats. They are much cheaper to take care of than another horse! We purchased 2 rescue goats and had them home and settled in before Brandy came here. They became so attached to eachother. Goats are very good companions to horses. Brandy did still pace the back fence everyday, off and on. The pacing did stop after we bought Fritzy.
I am glad you are practicing loading the horses. It is good for them and you!
Your bread looks delicious!
My neighbor got a burro as a companion for her horse and it seems to work well. The burro was inexpensive to buy but I don’t know about the cost of upkeep.
I’m so impressed with how you’re marching on, doing the things that keep your spirits up. You’re a strong woman!
I personally, would not have one horse alone for many reasons…one of which is, many of them start weaving and cribbing out of boredom. If you get a goat, you have to have the right kind of fencing or they can get out of the pasture. A burro would still have to have shots, a dentist and a farrier…I would keep the other horse. Do you plan on getting a place where you can take care of your own horses? Hang in there.
Buying something else to keep Luke company doesn’t solve the problem since I’m trying to prepare to move and won’t have any place for other animals. I’ll eventually end up boarding Luke somewhere and have been told that board is about $400 and up. Now I’m depressed.
Not sure what kind of housing I’ll be moving into, just that it probably won’t include acreage to keep a horse.