I head to to the East Coast this week to see Dad and so on (leave Weds, back on Sunday) so just posting a mishmash of our weekend and other news. First off, Tate got his fly gear and tried it out. Isn’t he the cutest and why do pony fly masks have SUCH long ears?? He looks like a donkey in this thing!
Remus and Tate continue to show the cuteness factor constantly. Everyone I talk to about them comments on how spoiled they are and yep they are. Still not ridden but hopefully soon. I have my bridle racks up in the barn now and things are starting to come together. The flies have been horrendous (horse flies mostly) so we have upped up our fly apparel game big time 🙂
We went and had dinner at a new friend’s and her husband’s house this weekend and had a great time and got to see her place (very close to me) and her barn etc. It is so funny how only 7 miles apart the terrain is totally different. I loved her place but also love mine so didn’t feel like DAMN I would have taken that place over hers. So that is good? (I always worry about that). Her husband is an air traffic controller so Mark was fascinated by that (me too in fact). She works for the local library so we have lots of things in common to chat about too. It was a great time…
Stephanie bought her place in January and had one horse then and now has five so I hope I can refrain from getting that many. She has a very pretty OTTB gray mare she events with, a Haflinger who has papers but is the biggest damn Haflinger I have ever seen (He has to be 16 hands and HUGE), a Tennessee Walker for her husband who was adorable and two mini horses she adopted.
So yay for meeting people and having a lovely dinner and getting to hang around horses and dogs. A good Saturday night in my book! And it is so nice to know someone else that events in the general area (not a lot of eventers around here). So I look forward to getting to know them even better and go some places with Stephanie in the cooler weather later on.
But the bugs are still bad. Remus has a huge knot on his neck (it had edema yesterday but is better today) from a horse fly I assume. I tried to get a photo of it.
Hopefully the flies will get better here. The horses still have the option to go into their stalls in the heat of the day but I worry about them with me gone this week. They are used to being watered in the middle of the day and being fly sprayed and having more hay and having their stalls picked out (SEE SPOILED) and Mark will be at work during the day. I guess they will survive.
I bought some grass hay this weekend and some more bermuda and now I know what crap hay looks like. This grass hay is the most shitty looking hay I have ever seen. UGH. It was not cheap either. I only got 3 bales of it and Remus ate some of it but he ate around it to get to the bermuda. SO I need to find a place to buy some bermuda for the winter because AT least he will finally eat that! #spoiled! It just looks like half weeds. I don’t even want to feed it and am considering taking it back.
I keep supplementing them with the compressed hay I buy at Tractor Supply but damn that shit is expensive too. But no one will ever say I have skinny horses HA. I did get supplements for Tate. Even though it is late in the season I started both him and Remus on Simplify and I also got Tate a metabolic supplement. (I had Remus on one for a while and if he continues to chunk will put him back on it but Tate has the traditional cresty neck and dough boy status so I figured it can’t hurt to put him on it). We will see if it helps at all.
Wildlife alert: I think it was Friday am I was going to get the wheelbarrow outside the barn and a fawn ran by me (Scared me to death and Remus too as he was eating at the gate outside when it ran by). It was tiny and still had spots. We keep seeing the same doe nearby so she must be the mom and had her baby late. I can only figure he was asleep behind my muck pile and I woke him up and scared him so he scared me and Remus as he took off for the neighbor’s property and ran down to the lake area. (He literally ran through the paddock right under Remus too bad I didn’t have my phone on me). The doe was out grazing in my front yard yesterday when I went out to feed in the am. Then yesterday I was in the paddock talking to my neighbor with Tate and Remus around us and a damn turkey buzzard flew by in low like a few feet off the ground back to the lake. Freaking wild country safari here. LOL….I need to carry my phone at all times. So many wasted photos not gotten!
I did get the tractor back out into the field and got some more pasture cut. But our terrain is so uneven and due the pasture being so overgrown I am being very cautious as I cut since I just don’t know where it drops off (it is shaped like a soup bowl at the top then gradually dips to the pond). The last thing I need to do is have a tractor in the pond so we are taking our time. The thing cuts like a charm though. I am so impressed NOW that I am figuring out how to use it. Also cut our main yard yesterday with it and it did a great job there too. (The sun went in for an hour and I took advantage of it!!). Our pond is getting low due to lack of rain (we got some rain this week but not enough) so I keep laughing about us having Turtle Beach out there. The turtles are lined up sunning on the beach each day.
Hope everyone had a great weekend. Stay cool (or warm) wherever you are! And wish me luck as I travel to the NE. Sounds like you guys are having a bitch of a time with storms so am sure my flights will be delayed! UGH hate traveling!
Fat Buckskin in a Little Suit 
Beware of people who work in libraries… just saying.
The boys have been on Simplifly and I like it, but I wish I started it earlier in the season. Going to start it in March next year. But it’s cheap and Subi tolerates it… speaking of, need to order another tub as with 3 on it, it doesn’t last as long.
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ha i did tell her about you and said I tend to gravitate to horsey people work in libraries 🙂 HA good to know re simplify!
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Ew on the bad hay. I’d be taking it back.
I love all the wildlife interaction you have at your new place! That’s so cool.
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Yay for new friends! Maybe you can steal one of her minis… surely she doesn’t need two?
I had a baby deer run by me a few weeks ago too! Actually it was running straight at me, and I was so startled I yelped and it diverted. Thank goodness, would definitely have knocked me right over!
That’s frustrating about the hay. I’m very appreciative of living close enough to NY to get relatively decent hay. It’s nothing GREAT, but Jampy shouldn’t have super rich hay anyway, and Rio can barely chew it anymore anyway. Both stayed pretty fat on it when they were normal horses though. So it’s good enough!
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Ugh, the flies sound horrible. I hate horse flies with a passion.
New friends sound great! What luck that you would have an eventer as your first friend! Also, we have a Haflinger at my family farm and I call her a Belgian/Haffy cross because she’s HUGE. She’s a rescue so we have no idea what she really is, but were told Haflinger… Apparently some people breed them big, lol.
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Boo on the hay. I think the really wet spring here really screwed up a lot of growers. Altho – if you keep feeding Remus the good stuff, your first few rides back might have to be sans-saddle! haha
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he is not as fat as Tate!! I literally give Tate handful of hay and Remus gets a flake LOL
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you are so cute – it sounds like youre having fun living ‘down on the farm’ life. the halflinger is adorable and as a fellow purple people eater i am proud of remus’ purple-out. keep up the good work!!
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Haha love the new fly gear. They are adorable spoiled brats, that’s for sure! 😉 Yay for new friends who is also an eventer!
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What does purple look like to horses? Like surely Remus doesn’t know he’s wearing that color right? We can hope…
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Remus says purple is cooooooooooool and Presto should wear it too 🙂
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No. No to the fact that he said that, I know that’s a lie, and no to the Presto wearing it part.
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he says purple is cool as long as the food keeps coming and the fan keeps running 😉
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Now that DOES sound more like Remus
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PPS Tate’s fly sheet is trimmed in purple too 🙂
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so awesome you got to meet a local eventer! her horses are adorable (does she have any tips or tricks for those damn flies?!?). travel safely this weekend! all the storms lately have meant a lot of delayed flights…
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ugh sounds like the weather is still bad up there. Fingers crossed I get into BWI okay…ick thanks!!
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The pink skin spot on the haffie’s nose. I had to scroll back up several times to swoon lol. How cute, even if 16hh isn’t as cute as 14hh lol
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I was waiting for someone to notice that. How cute is that?? LOL
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Safe travels! I am verrry envious of you and your country home – despite the barn chores 🙂
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I love Remus in all his purple glory!
It’s good you are meeting local horse people too, plus she has cute horses.
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Tate in his fly gear is the cutest thing ever!!! Love the donkey length ears. It makes him look like a cartoon version of a horse. HA!!! And poor Remus..sorry guy that your mom loves purple. We all have our crosses to bear in life. LOL!!
Sorry the flies are so killer. Did you ask your new eventing friend how she handles it? We are super lucky and have minimal flies at our place, but we also have a ton of bats, frogs and insect eating birds that keeps the numbers down. Maybe put up some bat boxes and bird houses to encourage them to move in.
I can’t wait to see your pictures once fall arrives. I’m sure your farm is going to be gorgeous with the leaves changing colors.
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she says that the flies come in waves and they arent so bad now at her house so I am hoping they will wind down here soon. We have the pond with LOADS of Frogs, we have bats, we have birds, we even have a shitload of lizards. I don’t know what the flies would be like without all that and our fly spray system. And yes I do believe Tate is the cutest in his outfit. He is so damn adorable. I hope Waggy is doing okay today!!
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How fun to meet someone in your area who also events!!
Annie looks like a Space Alien right now too, haha. And she is jealous of Remus’ purple fly sheet!!
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i love that purple fly sheet and have had it for years but it is truly too hot for TN weather. He sweats in it. I wish they made more of them in colors though white gets so dirty so fast!! I actually didn’t put one on him today due to the fact Husband is taking care of them the next few days and i want them fed,watered,flysprayed and kept alive and don’t need to confuse him with sheets LOLLOL 🙂 (confuse husband not Remus). Annie would look amazing in this color sheet though…
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Omg Tate is the cutest in the entire world, with Remus in purple in close second. The floppy pony ears on T edged out R at the last second, though.
Glad you made a friend and don’t want to take her farm from her. How kind of you, bahahaha. I look forward to seeing how much you’re able to restrain yourself from buying more horses down the road.
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