Go Fly A Kite (Horse)

When I was a little girl, my mom and I always used to refer to horses who ran away or spooked or just acted goofy on the longe line a kite horse. Mostly because the way they take their person dragging accross the arena is reminiscent of flying a kite. No control but sort of fun to watch:)

Anyways, Tango doesn't have real turnout where he is at right now, just a good sized paddock where all he can do is trot. So I try to get him out a couple times a week into the area that has been prepped as an arena (still only fill sand, not arena footing so there are rocks surfacing, some inconsistencies, as well as no arena fence) and since it is not finished, I have to be really careful to keep him down a notch, because if he were to get away there is the possibility he might hurt himself.

So because of weather and Christmas he hadn't been out all week, so I took him out and attempted to longe him sanely. He had other ideas;) He ran and ran and then would slide to a stop and try to come in like he was done, then when I'd send him back out he'd take off running again. Oi. Gotta love a hot horse right?

Anyways, the best part of the day was that there was someone there to take pics of him in all his fluffy, unclipped, mussed up glory. So without further ado...

Wind, Snow and Flooding Oh MY!

I'm writing this post on both of my blogs, so if you read both, so sorry for the duplication!:)

I have been unable to update on both horses due to a myriad of circumstances, the least of which is the busy schedule I've had in this Holiday Season including Christmas Parties (a party each day of the weekend for the last three weekends), Pet Sits (it IS the time of year that people go visit family, or run away from it if thats your thing), and of course caring for my two ponies and my home.

In addition to all the normal goings-on that we endure during this beautiful time of year, is the lovely weather that little Ms La Nina has brought us...with today being the very first day of Winter, we've already experienced (in the last month) an ice/snow storm, a wind storm, record rains (which of course equals flooding) and another large wind storm (following the flooding, of course). All of these things have caused us all some amount of grief, mine being the influx of vehicles in our dealership to be fixed from all of the accidents.

First I'll chat about the snow/ice storm which happened just before Thanksgiving. We had something like 8 inches of snow in our area. It stuck around for about a week, melting, and freezing, and sleeting, then snowing, then melting and freezing again creating a giant mess of our roads, and ultimately our cars. The boyfriend and I made it through with no negative issues. It was cold, and icy, but my 2010 VW Jetta made it's way home safely the first day (amazingly avoiding all the huge issues just half an hour behind me!) and the rest of the time I convinced the boyfriend to run me back and forth between the barns, making sure I had enough feed and bedding for both horses, as well as to work and back. We flew out to Vegas for Thanksgiving, and when we came home it was dry and cloudy:) Photos below of my parent's road, and then a pic of a friend's backyard about 5 miles from my house.

Then we had a nice big wind storm. I woke up in the middle of the night to a HUGE gust of wind blowing sheets of rain, and hail into my window. We woke up in the morning to no power. Crazy night with very little sleep. Horses survived, thankfully!:)

A few weeks later we were subjected to Washington's favorite weather condition--rain! We had record amounts of rain (I can't remember how much, but something like 4" in a few hours in spots). It DUMPED. Every river on the West side was swollen and threatening to spill their banks...the Green and White Rivers (the two the we are sandwiched between) stayed within them, but the Stillaguamish and Snoqualmie overflowed. Like a lot. Photos below of the Green River, and then a couple from news channels about the Snoqualmie and Stillaguamish.

And last but not least we had our most fabulous wind storm. There is damage EVERYWHERE, including a beautiful historic barn that collapsed. The news was saying top wind gusts in Enumclaw (the next town over from us) was 74mph. A family friend, who lives just off the main Hwy in Enumclaw, has a home weather station that clocked one gust at 83mph...and she claims she saw it peak at 115mph during one particularly strong gust. Needless to say, I was worried about the horses. Power was out at both barns, but everyone was snug and calm. Gotta love nicely built barns!

Anyhow, thats what I have now. Tango and I went on a nice walk, and he is enjoying his new suite between the two arabians...I think they are exhausting him because he was SUPER good for his walk on Sunday! I'll update again soon!

Spa Day for Tango:)

So I decided I've been neglecting my "special" big boy and though since the weather was so gross and I had hardly anything to do on Sunday and it was pouring down rain, that I would spend some quality time with the Lishy-Monster. He seemed genuinely glad to see me, and I was really glad to see him after 3 days.

It has become extremely warms overnight, as what is being called a "pineapple express" (an extremely warm, wet front) moves in from Hawaii. We are expected to have over 3" of rain in the next couple of days, along with wind, thunderstorms (yay!) and flooding. All of our rivers are under flood advisory. Luckily for me both Tango and Ellie are in places that are high and dry. Well...to the best extent that you CAN be in Western Washington!

Anyhow, I decided since it was so warm, I'd strip Tango and groom the heck out of him, and since two of his braids had come undone and subsequently become linked together in a knot of epic proportions, that I should probably unbraid, brush, condition and rebraid his ridiculous mane. I closed his outside door because I had just stripped and rebedded his stall and the torrential rains were being blown so far sideways that the rain was actually reaching nearly to the front of the 12x12 stall!

So I had him stripped and his mane down, and since I haven't gotten any pics of him this way since he's been home, I decided to snap a quick picture for all of you...it is not a good picture, or even one that shows much of anything, since I had to take it from the corner of the stall, but as you can see, he is fat, shiny, and thirsty:) Enjoy!

Tango: The Swamp Thing

My life with Tango is not very blogworthy right now. I don't have a place to ride, and since I am concentrating on Ellie right now, I don't get to spend as much time with him as I'd like.

That said, I'd like to discuss why I've kept him despite my doubts about our future together. I know this horse inside and out. I know exactly how he will react in every situation. I know he won't kick me if I bump into him while cleaning his stall, or stick him with the pitchfork on accident. I know that he will stand tied, for hours if necessary. I know he'll pretty much hop ON a trailer, but he gets nervous if you ask him to back out. I know he gets a little snorty at new places, but after a few walks/longes in the arena and he is fine. I know I can touch him anywhere and he won't get pissy. I know when I take him on a walk, it's best to have a stud chain.

He is my pony and I love him, and even if I could never ride him again, I don't think I could bring myself to sell him. Especially when he banishes himself to the pouring rain so that I can clean his stall, and then stares in the stall at me longingly, dripping wet like it was *MY* idea for him to go out and stand there. Doofus:)

Tango Makes a Friend

So until yesterday Tango has had the only matted stall in the barn. Yesterday they were able to finally get a second one matted, and so the mare moved over to the other side of the barn (the stall Tango had been in, because he was leaning on the movable wall and knocking it off the track) and he moved two stalls down, which put him in between two horses as opposed to none previously.

He was, of course, thrilled about this development and he and the horse next to him, Icky, proceeded to become the best of pals...and played all day...prancing, biting, licking, tearing at eachothers blankets, biting, rearing and bucking. Here are two videos of Tango and Icky playing today while I was cleaning Tango's stall. Enjoy!:)

I Missed You Mama!

So I have been gone for a week on vacation, and for the two days prior to my trip we were slammed with a snow/ice storm. I have missed my pony and couldn't wait to go see him this morning. I knew he probably didn't even notice I was gone thanks to the wonderful care of my friend Jennifer who cares for him, but I sort of secretly hoped he would be happy to see me.

Let me tell you how nice it felt when I walked up to the barn and he turned his head to me, perked his ears and nickered. And then I said "Hi Lishy, did you miss me?" and he nickered again. And did that cute whuffling thing horses do when they want to talk but are being too lazy (you know, when you can see they are still talking, but can't hear anything?). I know, he just thought I was coming to feed him, but alas, he'd already been fed and watered that morning, and so he really truly WAS just happy to see me.