This is genocide!

This morning, I went out to the barn and immediately put a halter on Annie. She tensed up, sensing the unusual behavior, but I knew what I wanted to do. I gently blew into her nostrils and I could see her tension lessen. I brought the tube of wormer up to her mouth and she took it, without any issues, the whole tube! By golly, I am sold on this blowing into the nostrils method of horse whispering. It worked on my two hot Arabs, making worming them as easy as ever.

Then, I figured that since I already had Annie haltered up, I'd go for a quick ride. I brought her over to the rail fence like always, only she really didn't want to come up close enough for me to climb over onto her back safely. I told her, "I have all day" and I just relaxed and waited her out. After just a few minutes of manuevering her back and forth to the railing, she came in close enough that I climbed over onto her back and we rode into the arena with Scout and Yalla! following closely behind. Sandy came along too and I laughed as I watched Yalla! chase her a few yards. I'd say it's payback for her chasing the horses all the time.

I walked Annie very slowly around half of the arena, close to the barn, checking to see how excited she was. She always rides better in a halter (yes, Sydney, I do think she's a candidate for a bitless bridle) but, since I haven't ridden her much recently, I want to be very careful. Both Scout and Yalla! followed us for a while and then they got bored and stopped. When Annie and I reached the end of the arena, Scout and Yalla! came running up to us, startling us. Fortunately, Annie remained calm and we continued our walk. Then, I asked her to trot and she went into a nice slow jog for me. I only rode about 15 minutes but it sure felt good to ride before getting ready for work. I put Annie away and fed them all their breakfast thinking to myself that I gotta do this more often.

Next, I decided to change the fly trap mixture so that I can get rid of more of those pesty flies in the barn. Remember my photos of the very full fly trap? I took one of the fly traps and unscrewed the lid. I dumped out the putrid water, full of dead black insect bodies, along the fenceline, just outside of the horse area. I refilled the trap with water and added the mixture. I stirred it all up and then it was ready for more fly genocide.

I continued with my chores, fed the alpacas, and hurried to the house for a shower and change of clothes so that I could go to work. Then I called Sandy inside.

PEEEYOOOHIE!!!

She stank like cow manure and dead pigs! I think she rolled in the dead fly-trap mixture. I took her outside, woke my son up, and we proceeded to give her a bath which she didn't appreciate much at all. I hoped she didn't get any of that smell on me because I was running late for work by now and didn't have time to change clothes.

I left the wet dog with my son and took off for work giving my son instructions to PLEASE bury the dead fly mixture so Sandy didn't get into it again. I was only a half hour later than usual but since I'm staying late most days it didn't matter too much. All in all, I really like mornings like this where I can feel like I've accomplished something before my work day. The last several mornings, I've been chopping weeds for 20 minutes or so each day. Don't ask me how that's going! The weeds are flourishing right now- easily knee high in places. Sometimes, I collect what I cut and throw it over the fence for the horses to eat.

A long day's work and I was finally home again. Dark skies and heavy winds in town led to pouring rain at home. The crazy New Mexico weather can change by zip code, or sometimes, even by streets. I have actually been driving down the road and crossed a line from partly cloudy skies into rain or snow conditions. It may or may not rain where you are at even if it's raining in other parts of the city. But on this night, it was raining buckets at my house! Empty feeders and buckets held a half inch or more of water and there is a rivulet running through the horse pens and down the arena to the far downhill end where a lake has formed. Gah! This means a sloppy, messy muddy trip to the barn to feed the animals.
Ah, but never fear, in the morning, most of it will be dry again. That's New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment for ya.


This is Genocide - song: Diamond Dogs, artist: David Bowie, album: Diamond Dogs