Mud feet - Not for the faint of heart

Just thought I would add to Cheryl's post. For those of you who have never seen what a Clydesdale's feathers look like when they have been in the mud. I took a photo after 2 hours of breaking the mud balls with a channel locks and scrubbing down the legs I couldn't do more. Each leg has about 20 lbs of mud that has mixed with hay to form something like adobe bricks. I will have to periodically break them apart just so he can walk. He is such a good boy about this that we bought him a special treat. His absolute favorite which is too rich to feed regularly but now he has his own fresh bale of the very best fresh Clover Alfalfa that gets sprinkled through his regular hay, kinda like sprinkles on an ice cream. He smells that in his hay bag and immediately starts to burrow his big nose to the center to find the mother lode.

A New Record?

I think I can safely say that Remington should have a new record bestowed on him as the world's tallest living mud ball. He is covered from nose to hooves in splotches of mud that could just about cover the entire county.

We've had so much rain that the ranchette has never had a chance to dry up. To top that off, here came a foot of snow that may look pretty, but great googly moogly, it eventually melts and creates an even bigger and deeper mud pit.

Normally, we keep the horses in their stalls when there is this much mud so they won't have their shoes pulled off or slip and slide and hurt themselves. But with so many wet days, we just couldn't keep them inside, so mudfest 2010 began.

Remi has huge mud balls on his feathers. Trying to get them off of him is difficult to say the least. I swear they are attached as if someone welded them on. And when they do dry, it's like you have to become a sculptor to remove them without damaging his feathers. Some of them are as big as 4" long and 2" wide. Poor trainer mom spent a lot of time bending over with a pair of channel locks to see if she could get them off and let me tell you, they weren't budging easily.

Tank, the white Percheron is no longer white and looks like a Dalmatian, and the little paint pair now have a whole new color pattern. What a mess. It's been to chilly to even think about bathing any of them, so for now we have the horses of different colors and are just dealing with it.

My precious mud ball and I did have a few moments of fun though. When I opened his gate to put him up for the day, he came up and pushed it closed with his nose. Nuh uh, I'm not going in. So, I opened it back up and said, c'mon Remipup, time for supper so go in your room. I swear I could see a grin on his face as he pushed the gate closed again. I'm snickering big time at his cuteness and once again opened the gate. Down went his head and right as his nose came close to the metal poised and ready to shove, I said REMIPUP, get in your room. Up went the head and he looked at me like I was grounding him for the night.

So in the stall he went with mud balls clacking on his hooves to a rather snappy beat and he circled around and stood right by his feed bucket. Ok, I'm in and you said supper, so where is it? Geeze, gimme a minute Mr. bossy :) So off I went to get his supper and hay bag and all was well with the world of Remi.

I am thrilled to see him in a playful mood again. It's been a while since we've had our fun times and it does my heart good to see him have a happy day. That's the Remipup I love. I did try to get some video of Remi romping in the snow to share with you all. With camera pointed and ready to capture the action, trainer mom opened the gate so he could come out and play. Needless to say, he sauntered out and was absolutely bored with it. WHAT? So alas, I have no Remi fun snow moments to share. Betcha if I didn't have the camera, he would have been kicking his heels up big time. Oh well, maybe next time.

There's more rain and snow predicted so mudfest 2010 will continue for awhile. I guess we'll have to do some thinking on how we can remove the mounds of mud from feet and fur when the sun and warmer weather returns to the ranchette. Any one have a chisel they want to donate to the cause?

Stay tuned, Stay Happy and Stay with us!

Remi-Tude Part 3

Howdy faithful followers. I'm sorry it's been so long between posts. As much as you enjoy reading about Remi's adventures, I enjoy sharing them with you. I feel like I have been suffering blog posting withdrawal. My job has been keeping me so busy that I don't get home until after dark and my time with Remington has been limited. That also leads to very little antics to witness and write about, even though trainer mom keeps me posted.

For those of you wondering about the new horse, well let's just say it didn't happen and we were left with an empty trailer and a very lonesome Remi still not eating. But, take heart, with hope and faith, all things are possible, and human kindness is still around us.

When some friends of ours heard that Remington was not eating and was not doing well, they offered to let us take one of their horses to keep him company until we could secure another horse. And, this horse has a story of his own. It seems that he was abandoned and our friends were contacted and kind enough to take him in and care for him.

Knowing that we needed to do something quick to lift Remington's spirits, Bunny and I took our friends up on their generous offer and off she went to bring him back to the ranchette. He is a sweet, lovable and very huge white Percheron whom we have affectionately nicknamed Tank because of his massive size. I mean he is about as round as he is tall.

We both had high hopes that Remington would take to him quickly, and let's just say that process is taking time. Oh sure, Remi bellowed with joy and nickered when Bunny led Tank down to the stall. It was dark thirty, so the boys couldn't interact right away. But as soon as Tank was in his stall, Remi went to eating his hay like he hadn't been fed in days. Ok, there's a good sign, but wait, the plot thickens and Remi-Tude is about to show itself once again.

It seems that Remi is practicing his right of passage as the new herd leader. He's making it very apparent that the pasture is his, the hay is his and the people who live here are his. Hey now, that's not nice ya big lugnut. You know how to share, remember?

Tank follows him around to get to know him, and Remi will pin his ears back and shake his head back and forth with big Tude and then walk away. A few times, he would take a nip or two at Tank, who just basically took it, until one nip too many turned into, I'm not taking it anymore and I'm gonna bite you back! Well howdy, whatcha gonna do about that one big boy, huh? He's trying to be friends and you're being a big jerk. What the heck is wrong with you?

Remi is back to not talking to either one of us and we keep hoping that with a little more time, he'll come to accept his new pasture buddy. He won't come up to me right now and he won't let me hug on his neck or kiss his nose. Guess he's mad at me for not seeing him much in the last two weeks. I don't have any idea how long this snit fit is going to last, but somewhere lurking inside Mr. Tude is my sweet boy and neither one of us is giving up on bringing him back from the dark place where he seems to be at the moment. I know he's in there, I have the faith.

He's not being mean really, he's just letting the new kid know that it's his rules applying now. Much like Princeton did to him when he first came to live here.

We don't know how long Tank will be here. If the dadgum rain will ever quit long enough for Bunny to put a harness on him and drive him, as well as see if he'll lift his feet for shoeing, then maybe we'll know more. He's really a very sweet boy who's come to realize that neck scritchin' is wonderful and humans can be nice to be around. We both like him alot although his curiosity can make him quite the pest sometimes.

In the meantime, we'll keep trying to get Remi back to his normal sweet self. I don't know how long an animal can mourn and we're both taking into consideration that his herd has left him and he doesn't understand why. We'll both continue to coax him up to us for a hug and a nose kiss and exercise the patience necessary to help him through this. I suppose we just need to let instinct and horse nature take it's course and see if he'll accept Tank into his herd of one all by himself. Let's hope so.

Stay tuned, Stay happy and Stay with us.

AKA - Conan the Destroyer

First let me thank all of you who have expressed their condolences. It means more than you know. I have often told people that Princeton owned me, not I him. Now I know just how true that statement really is. I am truly lost, but for Remi's sake I have put that away til I can help him thru his loneliness. He spends a great deal of his days just standing in the middle of the common area that he and Prince shared nickering for his buddy.

Now before you get all weepy. Know that this weekend I will be picking up his new best friend, and I expect them to bond almost immediately. You see the horse we picked is the same breed as Princeton (English Shire) and in many ways is very similar; same color, markings, size, and if the breeding runs true a very similar temperament. Maybe a little less grumpy, as Princeton did get a little curmudgeonly at times. Here is a head shot of his new pal Woody.

As for the Conan reference... One learns quickly round here to identify sounds. I can tell the sound of the feed room being broken into blindfolded. Same goes for the never ending sounds of breaking wood as in fences etc. However the other day while cleaning the big lugs bedroom I heard sounds that not only could I not identify, but they are getting very loud and then I hear the sound of breaking wood and the pounding of big feet. As I rounded the back corner of the barn at a run I was almost run over by a big gray and white blur running in the opposite direction with something blue attached to its back feet.

I knew immediately what it was, but I couldn't believe it. You see, we built our own barn. Its not pretty, but we built it with the knowledge that it would house draft horses, so it is sturdy. However, before we built there, the previous owners had a large A frame swing in the back. We didn't have the equipment to unearth the posts so we converted it to a shavings bin by adding a roof and 4x8 plywood sides. To finish the job we took a commercial tarp, the kind used on semi trucks to cover their load, and put that over the entire shavings bin to further protect the shavings from rain. Now if you have never seen one of these close up let me tell you they weigh 200 lbs, maybe more. By the way, did I mention that we nailed it to the sides and the roof.

You guessed it now.... Remi has pulled the tarp off the structure. Along with the tarp came some of the plywood, and all this apparently got caught on him and the flatbed trailer that had been parked next to the bin. He heard me coming and decided to escape the scene of the crime, but the tarp had gotten caught on his back shoe and came with him like a huge blue and yellow cape. I swear we could have entered him in the Derby for as fast as he came around the barn, mud flying twenty feet in the air behind his huge feet, nostrils flaring and a look on his face that told you that he just knew that a flying saucer had just landed right on him... To the best of my knowledge he has not been around to the back of the barn since. I have, however, seen him looking around the corner at the big blue pile of debris that he left in his wake. Remi may be lonely, but some things will never change. If you can build it, he can break it!!

I just had to take pictures. Here is what is left of our shavings bin. Click on the photos to see them. Anybody needs to see me next week I will be sitting on top of the roof of a shaving bin recovering it. You can bring your own hammer or I will lend you one. LOL

Trainer Mom, Bunny

Remi's New Buddy

When trainer mom and I put our mind to something, we shift into high gear and get it done! And so it has been with the quest to find a new buddy for Remington to help heal the huge hole in his heart. And you know what, we did it! But, I'll save that bit of news for a little later in the post. And no fair scrolling down to the end to see the news :)

For the most part, Remi has been standoffish and not allowing any hugs or kisses. Bunny tried to brush him the other day and all he wanted to do was pull away and head to the center of the pasture where he has been standing and looking around for Prince. Persistence does pay off though because between the both of us, we keep trying and a couple of times, there has been a breakthrough.

Last weekend while we were at the barn cleaning his room, he wandered up for a brief moment to see what was going on. He toyed with the hay pile in front of the stall a bit and then began his pacing up and down the aisle. I went up to him and asked for a kiss and lo and behold he put his nose down and I got my kiss. Just one and he pulled his head back up. Hey, I'll take it because it's progress.

I walked down to the feed stall and started making up a hay bag for him and in no time at all, there was the big guy at the gate watching me work. Hmmm, he's here, he's interested and I have alfalfa cubes close by. So, with a handful of treats, I walked toward him and beggar pony emerged. Another step in the right direction because he is thinking about food and he's begging for treats. Ok, I'll take that too. Baby steps you know. A broken heart takes a long time to heal.

We moved Remi into Princeton's stall so he could be closer to the house and have two side windows to look out and see the dogs and us when we are in the yard. He seems to like his new digs and in the mornings when I leave for work, I get to see him and say see ya later Remipup. In fact, the last couple of mornings have been so special, because he has been laying down in the stall and all I see is his ears. When I tell him so long and I love him, the ears go up like a submarine periscope. I can't see his head, but the ears do perk up and it's been a great way to start the day.

Yesterday, Bunny was preparing the stall for our new arrival. Remi was in his stall and he didn't know she was there at first. She popped her head up over the top slat and he nickered at her. How cool is that? She talked to him and kept him company for awhile and in that short time, Remi seemed to forget his sadness. We are both trying to spend more time with him, but we can't be there for the amount of time he needs, so we're going to leave that up to the new kid.

Ok, so now that you've been patient, I'll tell you a little about the new kid coming our way who we hope and pray will be that special buddy that Remington so desperately needs. His name is Woodhouse (Woody for short) and he is a six year old English Shire gelding. He's black with four white stockings and a white blaze and is absolutely gorgeous. He has a docile personality and our gut instincts say this is the one.

Woody is currently in Tennessee but will hopefully be with us on the ranchette by the end of the month. He's 17.2 hh and has a high enough back that he should be able to be hooked with Remi for training and for that little extra bonding that is so desperately needed.

So, there's the scoop. And, until Woody gets here, the two of us will continue to keep the big boy as happy as we can and spend more time with him. I won't go as far to say that we will don a horse costume, but we will do what we can to ease his heartache in the meantime.

We'll take some pictures and share them with you as soon as he joins the family. We're excited and hopeful that he will help heal Remi's broken heart and ours.

Stay tuned, Stay happy and Stay with us!

Lonesome Remi

To every thing there is a season and a purpose and on Tuesday January 5th, 2010, Remington's beloved buddy and constant companion Princeton, passed away, leaving us all with a very huge hole in our hearts.

Bunny lost the horse with whom she started her company and who helped her work through the sadness she felt after loosing her mother. She has lost her best friend who always gave her a soft nicker and always let her know how much he loved her. In the last couple of years she has spared no expense, or time caring for his every need and making his quality of life rich and comfortable.

Princeton was my first encounter with draft horses and I loved him right from the very beginning as if he were my own. He was gentle and kind and everyone loved him. He was a beautiful horse who at times seemed like he understood every word you said to him and I learned a lot from him.

We are very lost and sad right now, but it is Remington who is the most lost and lonesome. Prince and Remi were buddies. When Remi first came to the ranchette, Prince let Remi know right from the beginning that he was the boss and he had better pay attention. But he also took Remington under his wing and showed him what horse etiquette was all about.

When Sara went to her new home, Remi was lonesome for her, but he had Princeton to pal around with and keep him company. They had a special bond and he misses him terribly. He has been looking around to see where Prince might be and bellowing loudly in the hopes that his buddy will hear him and come to his side. The little horses never developed a bond with him and Prince, so they are of no comfort to him.

Our challenge now is to find a suitable companion for him so that his broken heart can mend and he will once again have someone in the pasture to keep him company. This morning I stayed with him while he ate his breakfast. He's not as interested in his food or his hay right now and we are both keeping a close eye on him to make sure he eats. He is not talking to Bunny or me very much right now and any attempt to kiss his nose or hug him is met with resistance and that's just not Remi.

Remi is lonesome and lost and we are doing everything we can to help ease those feelings, but ultimately we have to find him a new friend and we are hot on the trail. Trust me, we are giving it top priority.

Princeton was 38 years old and was loved very much. We will remember the good times, and there were many good times. We will remember his gentleness and his grace and all the love he gave to us as well. He had a good life and lived longer than a lot of horses or other animals do, and for that we are both thankful for the time we could share.

As for Remington, we know that our visits to the barn can not replace the missing piece of his heart, but we will find someone who will. We want our Remi back to being his usual happy self and for now, he's not there. I'll keep you posted.

Rest in Peace Sweet Prince

1/5/2010

Stay tuned, Stay Happy and Stay With Us!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010 to everyone from the ole ranchette! It's a cold and frosty day around here and my trip to the barn to serve breakfast has left me with some pretty chilly fingers. The horses were more than ready to chow down on their feed and hay and I was more than ready to get 'r done and get back to the warmth of the house :)

Remington began his usual wake up call of kicking the gate several times, which prompted Tuck to start doing the same. Good grief, you would think that they hadn't been fed in days. Give it a rest boys. This musical talent of alternate gate clanging is not something I relish, especially on my day off. But since they're persistent, I will usually put the kibosh on the concert by giving in and feeding them a little early. Hmmm, me thinks I am the one who is trained :O

The past year certainly was filled with all sorts of interesting and life changing events, from finding a new job to Remi's world record whirlwind. There was good and bad, happy and sad, but we found the strength to work through whatever life threw at us.

Sadly, we lost our little pet chicken Drumstick, who by all counts was the queen of the barn. Who knew that a little chicken could have so much personality and take hold of our hearts so quickly. She is sorely missed.

We said so long to our mare Sara, who happily found a new and loving home and was able to retire from the carriage business. That was what we truly wanted for her and it finally happened.

Princeton the Shire is up there in years, and trainer Mom has worked tirelessly and endlessly to ensure he has a good quality of life. We treasure each and every day we get to hear his soft nickers.

Remi's story went worldwide and we have been able to share his adventures with so many wonderful people. You are all truly appreciated and I sincerely hope you have enjoyed the stories and that they help bring you a smile.

We said goodbye to Doc the Percheron who now has a new home with a loving new owner. And we said hello to Nip and Tuck, who are quite challenging and full of themselves. Ah yes, there's abundant energy in those two. Remi isn't quite sure he likes it either, because they interrupt his lazy time.

Keiko the Akita finally got over her little run in with the black and white fur creature that helped earn her the nickname Stinkerbell for awhile. Bailey (Doodlebug) maintained his 24x7 energy level and I swear sometimes acts like a miniature version of his big brother. And Gabe, the kitty, had quite a full year of long and refreshing cat naps after his many night hunts for meeces.

I don't know what this new year will bring, but my hopes are that it be wonderful and blessed for all of us. Take time to enjoy and celebrate your life. If you see someone without a smile, share one of yours with them. Look to your inner courage and strength to make it through whatever life brings and the good things will come, I know they will.

Happy New Year and may all good things come your way in 2010 and for years to come.

Stay tuned, stay happy and stay with us!