Remi's Revenge

It is no secret that Remington's main goals in life are to eat, play and cause mischief. He is very happy and content to loll around in the pasture, munch on grass and ah yes, roll around in the dirt and mud. Life is sweet when that's all his agenda has to hold.

However, the month of December has not been all that fun for the big guy. The holiday season is full of extra long hours of work for us humans and a little more work for the horses. And although Remington thinks he's been overworked, he really hasn't, but nonetheless, he has decided he would let us know every day that he is most unhappy with the situation. I mean how dare we upset his full schedule of doing nothing!

Before I continue, let me just say that Remington may have worked a total of 2 whole hours the entire year. This gigantic stomach on stilts needs a little exercise now and then and we take extra precautions to make sure all of our working horses get necessary breaks and work minimal time. So, despite the fact that he has had to work this entire season, it's not killing him, trust me. He's such a big baby! He needs to support his two bales of hay a day habit, now doesn't he?

We had intended on using our new pair for the season, however the month of October was a total washout with 27 days of rain and they were not ready to be on the streets yet. So the task of pulling the vehicles has been left up to Remi, who thinks that we are just horrible creatures for making him work. Whaaa, poor widdle Remipup has to work like a human, how terrible.

Every day when we go to the barn and grab the lead rope, Remi will turn his back to us and pretend that we are not there. "I don't see you and you don't see me" "And I am not going with you today, so there!" Wanna bet ya big doof, we can see you just fine and oh yes mister, you are going and that's all there is to it. So, of course you know, we win, but he gives it his best shot. And, he does it every single day.

Now, here's where the revenge comes in. Yesterday, even though the pasture was still a little muddy, trainer Mom let Princeton, the older horse out so he could stretch. We didn't want to let Remi out because we knew he would roll in the mud and it is just too cold to bathe him, so he stayed in the stall.

Well, he went to bucking and kicking the walls, squealing like a pig and shaking his head back and forth with a great big attitude. I looked at trainer Mom and said, "I'm not going in there to clean his stall when he's acting like that." We both kept telling him to settle down, but he wasn't having any part of that. And, since she had to drive him later on and didn't need all that extra pent up energy, we decided to let him out.

We were smart about it though and put an old blanket on him so if he did roll, he would get mud on the blanket and not on him. Of course, nothing could protect his feathers, so he had huge mud balls sticking to all four legs. Ok, that's easy enough to brush so trainer Mom wasn't too worried. As we loaded him up in the trailer, I kept shaking my head at what a mess his legs were, but little did I know that the worst was yet to come, and boy howdy, did it ever come.

Today, the ground was so much drier so we didn't put the old blanket on him. Big mistake, huge, really big dumb move, because leave it to my boy to find the ONE dang spot where it was still mushy and nasty. Oh, yes, by golly he found it, he rolled completely over in it and then the doofus rolled back over once more. Oh my stars and martians, he is now a gigantic mud ball. And you could almost see the big grin on his face as if to say, "ok, if you're gonna make me work, then you are gonna have to work even more and brush me big time!"

When trainer Mom went to go call him and Princeton in to the stalls, he zoomed to the back pasture to avoid the inevitable. "Hee hee, come and catch me if you can." Oh, yeah, you think that's gonna work? Wrong mister, you only have 2 days left and you are going to go to work, get in your house.

Thank goodness he has a strong bond with Princeton, because once he turned around and saw him going to his stall, he decided to follow and go into his. Whew, that was a close one. I would hate to think we would have to fire up the bobcat and chase him around the back pasture. Head 'em up and move 'em out! Yee Haw :)

So, he got his revenge by golly. Mud from nose to toes and quite proud of himself, I might add. After tomorrow he can settle back in to romping and rambling around in the pasture and enjoying his favorite pastimes of eating and mischief making. He'll probably forget about this month by Tuesday. But, you can bet he'll still pull his I can't see you antics, the next time he sees us coming toward him with a lead rope.

That's my boy, 3000 pounds of "I don't wanna". But you still gotta love him :)

Stay tuned, stay happy and stay with us!

Remi's White Christmas

Christmas eve brought snow to the ole ranchette and a lot of it was still on the ground Christmas morning. Remi and the other fur kids were all snuggly in their warm rooms while the fierce bitter cold wind blew the wintery mix around in swirls. And let me tell you it was COLD!!! Trainer mom and myself were out there making sure the hay bags were filled and their dinner was served and I think we both turned into snow women....Brrrr and double Brrrr!!!!

For Remi and trainer mom, it meant a night off from the holiday rides as it was too dangerous to be on the roads. So he and the other horses settled back happily munching hay and occasionally looking toward the sky to see if they could see Santa Horse and his sleigh pulled by something else other than them.

Ok, so they weren't really looking for Santa Horse, but it makes for a nice little holiday scene anyway :) And, while Santa visited all the good little girls and boys homes, he took the time to make a special stop at the barn. Ah, what wonderful carrot oaties did appear on Christmas morning. Munch, munch, and more munch. For the big kids, it was a tasty delight and they all enjoyed their treats. Especially Remi, who has scored more treats this month than he does all year.

The little fur kids all got something from Santa Paws and were happy playing with their new toys that make lots of noise and sampling their array of holiday cookies.

Now, all the attention and extra goodies that Remi has been getting this month have turned him into a gigantic beggar pony. I went to pet him on his nose the other day and he started popping his lips and snaking his head toward my hand looking for whatever hidden treasure might be there.

Oh, Remipup, the hand is empty and except for a nice pat on your nose, there's nothing else coming. "I don't believe you" Pop, pop go the lips again and the head starts snaking toward me. Dude, I'm telling you, there's nothing in my hand. How about a nice kiss on your nose and I'll be on my way. It's cold out here and I'm ready to go warm up. See ya later big guy.

As I turned around and started walking toward the gate, I heard one last pop pop of the lips, but totally ignored it. He just never gives up, because he knows that he usually gets his way. All he has to do is look at me with those big soft brown eyes and be comical and cute, and I'll give in. But, not this time. Nope, I'm standing my ground this time.

He is such a big goofball and I love every minute of it. It's always interesting to see what antics he'll come up with next. You just never know with Remi. And, you know what, I always look forward to that new special moment and extra smile that he always gives me.

Here's hoping that each and everyone of you continue to enjoy the holiday's. May you all be blessed with love and happiness.

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Remi The Big Nose Clydesdale

Remington has been hard at work this month earning his hay money. It's the busiest time of the year for the carriage company with all sorts of holiday parties and tours of homes with bright beautiful light displays.

Of course, Remi is outshining all of the lights and is receiving gobs of attention to which he dearly loves. Trainer mom says that every time he comes in from a ride and stops at the loading spot, he immediately puts his nose to the ground for everyone to come give him a big hug on his neck and a good ear scritchin. He is eating this up and my boy is getting more spoiled by the day.

I love hearing the stories how he's bringing smiles and laughter from everyone who comes in contact with him. That's what it's all about, and we love sharing him. It makes our day to see happy faces and Remi just eats up the attention.

Now, of course, once Remi got it in his brain that putting his head down means hugs and scritchin, it now applies to all locations and all situations. Take for example the other day when I was cleaning his room. It all began like the normal routine, starting with "let me in Remipup". Once you say that to him, he will back up and allow you in. Now, prior to this, we always have to make sure that he has enough hay in his bag to occupy him, or he will be bugging us something fierce.

So, with hay bag full, I asked him to let me in and moved the wheel barrel to the back of the stall while he happily went to munching on his groceries. Cleaning stalls is a pretty mindless chore, but often some of our greatest ideas are born while we do it. We always have to keep one eye open though, when he's in the stall, because one sudden move and it can be back in the boot time. No thank you, I've been there twice and don't want to go there again.

As I continued to clean, I suddenly felt a surge of hot air on my neck. I don't know how he did it without me noticing, but he had turned around and was breathing on me to get my attention. What the heck? I turned my head slowly and there was Remi putting his big nose to the ground waiting for a hug and some scritchin. So, I put the fork down, gave him a big ole hug and scratched his ears. Then I threw in a kiss on the nose for something extra, because it's my favorite thing to do with him.

Remi, go back and eat your hay so I can get your room done. Good boy, go on. Nothing, no movement, nada. Hmmm, this isn't working. Ok, here's another hug and kiss my sweet boy. He finally turned back around and went back to munching and I am chuckling so hard that cleaning his room has gone from mindless, to a comedy show.

He never ceases to amaze me and I know that even when I have a bad day, I can always go visit my boy and he will make it all better. Head down, big hug, ear scritchin, and several nose kisses for just because.

From Remington, Trainer Mom, Myself and the rest of the Fur Kids at the ranchette, may you all have a blessed holiday season and a most joyous new year!

Stay tuned, stay happy and stay with us!

Remi's Parade Video Link

It's hard to believe that it's only been a week since Remi did his first big parade. We are still so proud of the big boy and we tell him over and over what a great job he did and what a good boy he is.

I came across a link so you can see him in the parade for a brief minute. Don't blink or you'll miss him. At least you can get a glimpse of his big day and see him without the mud balls and doing his job well.

We are right behind Batman and the fire engine, so watch closely to see a few shots. You may notice in the video that there is a huge painting in white with a red flat Santa on it. None of the horses liked this flat Santa or the painting and were quite unimpressed by it. To them, it was just a big horse monster. But, my Remipup faced it and moved on down the road.

Many thanks go to our walkers who were right by his side, telling him what a good boy he was and making sure no paper horse monsters attacked him.

So enjoy the brief seconds of Remi in action and thank you for staying with us.

http://www.wfaa.com/home/related/The-2009-Adolphus-Childrens-Parade-Part-1-78892222.html

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Remi's First Parade

It was a very cold morning for the parade. Remi was lying down in his stall enjoying a snooze when he was awakened by trainer mom's voice and the lead rope. Time to go Remipup, it's your big day.

He didn't know what the heck was going on. "Hay it's dark outside and I'm nice and cozy" We have to go big boy, time to load up and head to downtown Dallas. "Oh alright, is there hay in the trailer?" Isn't there always, ya big stomach on stilts? :)

Downtown we went to face the harsh wind and bitter cold and get the big boy dressed for his very first parade. It's been too cold to give him another bath, so we spent lots of time brushing the mud balls out of his mane, tail and feathers. Thank goodness he likes the attention because it makes it so much easier to brush him when he's standing still.

His harness was all polished and spiffy and he is always a handsome boy when he's dressed up in his finest. He drew lots of attention as we moved down the street to take our place in the line up. While we waited for our passengers, many kids and grownups came to pet him and have their picture taken with him. He was such a good boy and remained calm even though there were hundreds of people all within close range and lots of loud noises that could have startled him.

But nothing bothered him. Not the big inflated balloons, not the people coming up close to him, or the photographer's coming within inches of his face. He behaved exactly like he did when we measured him. Calm and sedate, but ever on the lookout for a carrot or a peppermint.

The kids from Children's Medical Center and his famous star Selena Gomez arrived and loaded on the wagon. After a delay, we were well on our way to wave at the crowd and show him off. Of course, having a big celebrity on board did take some of the attention away from him, but we all know who his fans are!

We were a little disappointed that the announcers didn't mention his name once during the entire parade, so there were many people who didn't realize that he is the World's Tallest Living Horse. Needless to say, we weren't very happy about that. But, a very special reporter from the Dallas Morning News, who has been covering Remington since before he was measured was there at the parade with her two children and made sure he got mentioned in the paper. We just love her :)

We only appeared on TV for a brief second, but you can see him at least. For those of you who weren't able to watch, many other stations throughout the U.S. will be showing it throughout the month. Here's a link to the stations and their broadcast times in case you're in an area to watch.
http://www.childrens.com/Parade/documents/broadcast-stations.pdf

We are so very proud of Remington. He pulled the wagon through the parade like he's done it a million times. He is such a good boy and I couldn't give him enough hugs and kisses once we were back at the trailer.

In the photo, you'll see mounted police riding along side the wagon. They were there to protect Selena, but we all joked that they were there to protect and escort Remi through the parade. We had a great time talking about horses with them and they couldn't get over the size of my special boy.

So, the parade is behind us, Remi is still the best boy in the whole world and thousands of people did get an in person glimpse of my magnificent gentle giant. Remi's appearance was donated for the benefit of the children at Children's Medical Center in Dallas. Isn't he sweet?

What a day, what a thrill and what an experience.

Stay tuned, stay happy and stay with us!

More Remi Fun

The dog days of summer are well behind us and a crisp chill is now in the air. The cooler weather always brings growth to the horses coats and quite a bit more energy and spunky behavior. Ah yes more energy, oh my word, that means Remington will be into twice as much mischief as he is during the heat of summer. Look out!

He is busy romping around the pasture and stirring the other horses up to join him in Run Fest 2009. Let's go zooming around the round bale a dozen times and see how much dust we can stir up. C'mon let's go. Whee this is fun, get outta the way!

I've been able to get back to the barn to resume my chores and once again observe the big boy's antics. And trust me, he has plenty of them. One of the things you'll hear most frequently around the ole ranchette is "Remington now what did you do"? And we find out pretty quickly.

Let me take you back to a couple of days ago. The sun is shining, the weather is perfect and the horses have gone around the back of the barn for a change of scenery. All is calm, all is bright until KABOOM!! What the heck? Here come the horses running to the front of the barn like wild mustangs.

Stall cleaning has now been interrupted and the investigation must begin. The source of the sonic boom was discovered and I have a picture to prove it. You may remember that Remi has already cracked or broken 3 corner posts of the barn while using them to scratch. When either of us are at the barn, those become untouchable because he gets chased away the minute he even looks twice at using one. I mean he shakes the whole barn when he does it.

So, Mr. Sneaky found his other source to use. He went and started scratching on the 16 foot all steal gooseneck trailer we keep behind the barn and knocked it off it's blocks. Now I gotta tell ya, this is an old trailer that weighs about 2000 pounds. But it seemed like a toy to Remi who pushed it over an inch or two.

Thank goodness we have the Bobcat working so we could lift the foot up and put it back on the blocks or we couldn't have hooked it up to the truck and gone after their bedding yesterday. Good grief Remington, is it possible for you to leave anything alone for five minutes. The answer to that question is NO!

Well what can I say, he got a bath, it rained, he rolled in the mud and he had an itch or two to scratch, so he used what was available to do it. As always, he's found a way to get our attention, cause more work than necessary and still manage to act like he didn't do anything. We know better, don't we?

Thank goodness the horses weren't hurt and nothing was broken. Take a look at his handy work and see just what the big boy can do. The foot of the trailer was on the blocks before the big Remi scratch finale.



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Remi-Tude Part 2

Once again the rain returned in full force, setting the pasture to the huge mud pit and sending the horses to their stalls for two days. Now, we all know that Remington isn't fond of being in his stall for that long, but he will tolerate it and behave as long as the hay bag is full and attention is given to him. That is until you change his room temporarily and he lets you know that it is not acceptable to him.

We have a young Ag student helping us with the stalls for the busy holiday season and he is not used to cleaning them while the horses are in, so trainer mom put one of the little ones out in the back pasture so the horses could take turns in his stall while theirs was being cleaned.

When it came time for Remi to move to his temporary holding spot, trainer mom put him in there and he didn't like it one darn bit. He went to bucking all over the place and wanted out right then and there. She told him to cut it out and he settled down for a few minutes, but was shaking his head back and forth something fierce.

This stall is 16'x16' and is larger than the others, but looks smaller when Remi is in it. Wow, where is the surprise in that statement, right? Trainer mom went down to his stall and was talking to Hayden when all of a sudden there was a loud boom and the whole barn shook. It scared the bejeebies out of both of them and guess who was behind the action? Yup, you got it, Remipup bucked and kicked the stall wall and let out a loud bellow.

Oh for crying out loud Remington, you're not staying there forever, get over your extra large self, why don't you. Of course, he got a stern scolding for that hissy fit. He's already broken two support posts and we really don't want him putting windows in the walls where they don't need to be.

His room was cleaned pretty quickly so Mr. I don't like this room, could go back to his own and stop the spoiled act. I'm telling you, when he doesn't get his way, he isn't going to be quiet about it. Once back in his room, he returned to his laid back self like nothing ever happened.

Fortunately, the stall wall is hole free and the barn is still standing. But with a wet winter predicted, he might have to go in there again, so we'll have to make sure he's got plenty of hay and keep an eye on him so he doesn't cop his big ole attitude again. Yeah, uh huh, that's going to be fun...Not! So, it ought to be interesting to say the least.

From Remington, trainer mom and myself, may you all have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving. Enjoy your family and friends and be sure to say thanks for all your special critters.

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