Deleware, State #27

6/7/14 evening; Deleware:
I started the prep for the MD painting and intended to finish it later after I rode. I took out WF with the tom thumb bit and nice heavy long split reins that Judy gave me. I had no trouble with her at all. I was still glad I wasn’t ponying, she requires all my attention or her mind wanders and gets pushy. My ponying the first day has gotten to be a drag most of the time lately, maybe I’ll quit doing it. I trotted and loped maybe half the time or more. It only took 2 hours but it was a good workout. About half way around there is a lot of gravel and I put on her front boots, she was acting a little ouchy. I went out bare thinking that she may not need them and I could use some natural wear on them so I don’t have to rasp as much. I like to see what she does with her feet on her own. Most of the time it is good. She only has 2 issues. One front foot develops lumps on either side of the toe and in the past a hairline line shoes up at the toe, like the start of a crack in the wall. If I keep the lumps down with a rasp it doesn’t crack. There hasn’t been a line there in a long time but the lumps continue to come back. And on her hinds, she scrubs her feet and flares form at the heel, especially on the inside. I hate working on her hinds, she is not too good about it.

As we were loping around the edge of a field, she started acting goofy. I finally realized my lead rope was hanging. Bad mom for blaming her for being bad when she was doing what she is supposed to do. I apologized. She really is a good girl, things are improving with us, most of it is me of course.

When we left MD I noticed discharge in one of Wildflower’s eyes and put ointment in it. The packaging says to do it 3 times a day but it looks fine now so I quit. One of the “CA horses” that was hanging around their arena a lot had pink eye and I guess that’s how she got it. It was a kind of risky situation with all those horses at the fence, but Judy is very on top of their health issues. The CA horse had on a fly mask up until the last night there. This is the same horse that broke into the arena on the first night. Her name is Mercy. Oh, mercy mercy me, oh things ain’t what they used to be…

After riding I went back to the painting but couldn’t concentrate very well. It was warm in the trailer, I was sticky from so much DEET and itchy from so many mosquito bites. And the Triple Crown race was about to start. I got caught up in trying to watch it, or get a play by play on FB. My Verizon phone had 3G and I used it as a hot spot for my lap top to stream in on NBC’s site, but it never really materialized on the screen. My sister called and tried to play it on her tv with the phone next to the speaker but I couldn’t hear it really, my phone kept cutting out sound. She’s not really into horses so couldn’t explain what was happening but she told me CA Chrome was on the outside and then came in 5th. FB friends posted comments for me too. Its so sad, it would of made a great movie.

I took Tommy for a much needed walk. It seems that he will not pee or poop when tied up. I had forgotten about that. I felt so bad when he stood there and peed and peed and peed. I wonder why he is like that? This morning he went off into the tall grass to do his business. I’ve never had a dog so tidy before. Our dogs went everywhere. I tried to work on heeling off leash, this one is hard, I need some professional advise on this. We tried to find the canal trail that a FB friend told me to ride on. It is very overgrown but I did see an occasional hoof print. The vegetation was thorny and vines. There were some big obstacles that looked like they had been placed there to block the way. Once over on the canal side it was more of the same. Not at all like the FL canal trails. We quit quickly and returned to the state park for our walk. I’m not sure if I will ride there tomorrow. It doesn’t look too interesting, and too messy.

I talked to my neighbors, the ones with the cars and kids. He was a ranger in Yosemite and so was his wife. Then he was a ranger here in DE. Now he’s a cop. Explains his abrupt approach to leashing Tommy. He tried to explain it away that he looked like a puppy. Tommy didn’t help alleviate his feelings, by barking at him the entire time he was over here. He actually lunged at him. I think the guy is afraid of him and Tommy senses this, or he knows he is the one responsible for him being tied up now. Or its just a strange man in our space? The children keep trying to come over here to “see the doggie”, but the ranger/cop keeps bringing them back. Good, cuz I can just see them wandering into the horse corral and getting shocked by the electric tape. The horses wouldn’t hurt them tho. The baby hasn’t cried as much tonight. Something about a baby crying that sets off air raid like alarms inside me. It was like that with my children too. I never understood how people can keep talking while a baby is crying, I couldn’t even think straight.

It was too hot to cook dinner, I had peanut butter out of the jar. Protein and carbs. It has cooled off a lot now tho, thank God. Its hard to sleep in the heat. Oh, there are so many lightening bugs out! That is so cool. I haven’t seen so many since I was a kid!

6/8/14
Sunday. Last day to ride here, I leave tomorrow for NJ a day earlier than planned. I will have gotten 2 ride days in and want to get settled in without rushing in NJ. We have an appointment with one of mom’s doctors to discuss the ethical aspect of her care on Tuesday.

When I awoke around 1am there was a truck idling with its lights on in the tiny roadway here. I heard voices. I peed and ate a bunch of oreos with milk waiting to see what was going on. Nothing. So I went outside to shut my door and lock it and went back to sleep. Odd. The last 2 nights I have gone to bed with just the screen door shut and it doesn’t lock. But it was too warm inside to shut the door. Both nights I ended up getting up after midnight chilled and shutting it. And locking it. Oh, it was probably the park night ranger chatting with the ex rangers camping here across the way?

I had a lot of strange dreams but don’t remember them. I can hear people on loudspeakers. A running race is going on today, I saw them setting up the cones and water stops yesterday on my trail ride. I’ll move the corral and paint before I ride out on Dreamy. The race should be over by then.

afternoon:
After I painted and was satisfied with it, I laid down before saddling Dreamy. The baby has been crying a long time. I thought the dad took the toddlers fishing and I thought mom might need a break, so I headed over to their camp. Turns out they were all there. The baby is only 10 weeks old. I said to mom that she is a brave girl. I couldn’t of done that, but I wasn’t a park ranger either. Ben is “almost 7” and the little girl is 5. It was very friendly and the kids wanted to pet the horses and the dog so we went over to my site, I took Dreamy out of the corral and let them pet her. Dad went to get carrots and they fed them carrots. Ben got her to “smile” a couple of times and he seemed delighted. Ben said his mom lives in CA. Oh, another broken family…He asked if he could get on her and I said sure. Dreamy has had a lot of tinier kids on him than him. I walked him around a bit, then the little girl wanted to get on her, so we switched. Dad said they got a 3 acre lot and were getting sheep and chickens. He asked about the electric fencing, how much land a horse needs…That is why I am here. To overcome my immediate negative attitude about them just because of the way he asked me to tie up Tommy. Lesson learned. I knew it was a bad response inside of me at the time, but couldn’t change it. And I got to expose 2 more little people to a life with horses and the magic that it brings.

I rode Dreamy and she was awesome. Not just perfect, awesome! We galloped alongside the fields, trotted almost everywhere else. God I love this horse. I still vividly remember the day 10 years ago that Kent (FRC barn manager) said to me “I’ve got the perfect horse for you”. He was right. She lived in Holister, CA and was a roping horse. She changed my life, she saved my life. I wonder where Kent is now?

Once back at camp I realized I had left the sliding part of the screen door open and it was the trailer was filled with flies. I’ve been swatting them all afternoon. I also think I have a mouse, Nalla is not doing her job. I found shredded paper in a bathroom drawer. And a tick on my knee. And 4 on Dreamy’s utter’s earlier today. The mares are polka dotted with mosquito bites, I mean seriously covered. Like the dotted swiss fabric my mom used when I was a kid to make dresses out of. But bigger lumps. I read that that is an immune reaction that will make you eventually immune to that particular species, not that they won’t bite you, but that you won’t get the itchy lump. I wonder if that is really true. Its funny that on Wildflower it is mostly just on her white parts. Poor Dreamy is covered stem to stern. And I have been wiping them down with Wipe twice a day.

I’ve been running the ac for 1-1/2 hours, tried to nap but couldn’t really. Time to feed, and prep to leave for NJ in the morning. It should be about a 4 hour haul. Our last haul for a while. The mares should be happy about that.