Ruidoso Road Trip

Last week, I told you that, for Mother's Day, my mom and I drove down to Ruidoso to see the Hubbard Museum of the American West. The museum was hosting a special traveling exhibit on Lechuguilla Cave. I posted the photos of that exhibit here. In this post, I will show some more photos of the museum.

But first, we had to drive for over three hours, past windmills, both old and new.

Ruidoso is the home of many Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing and breeding farms. Look at these magnificent metal gates!

This is an overview of the lower level of the museum. They had all kinds of horse transportation with placards describing eachof them.

This sidesaddle has a "slipper" stirrup and a horsehair girth, interesting.

 Some of the saddles were available for test rides. The McClellan cavalry saddle was not at all comfortable. This is the first time I've put my foot in a saddle stirrup since I broke my ankle. The McClellan stirrups were longer than the western saddle's.

They had a buckboard in the children's area that I just HAD to climb aboard.

 This pretty coach is known as a surrey.

Isn't this Native American beaded horse collar just gorgeous?

I loved this little chuckwagon complete with fold up table, cabinets, drawers, and a coffee grinder attached to the side.

This was a children's hearse, very sad.

Here, you can see a sleigh in the foreground, a black doctor's buggy, and a small covered wagon.

This saddle cover was used by the Pony Express riders for mail delivery. I guess they didn't deliver many catalogs in those days, huh?

Isn't this coach pretty? I do so love the color yellow.

This was a mine exhibit complete with the board showing the miner's tags at the right. When a tag was missing from the board, they knew the miner was still down in the mine.

This horse had such a silly expression, "leaving so soon?"

Yes, we had a long drive home.

Nadia's BIG adventure

This morning, I decided to let the alpacas graze around the barn, partly because I am down to my last two bales of hay

and partly because I know how much they love to browse and explore outside of their stall and paddock. It's fun to watch Sophie Rose pronk around and jump in the air with her neck all twisted around and her head sideways.

I left them wandering around in the area outside of the barn and went to work. Midday, I called my son and asked him to water the animals and move the alpacas back to their stall and paddock. I also asked him to turn Nadia out with the other horses for some exercise. I usually keep Nadia separated from the other horses because she is such a slow eater and I'm trying to put weight on her.

A few hours later, I received a call from my neighbor, Lisa. The only times she calls me is when bad things have happened:
when my newborn foal went missing,
when Annie had a blowup with the horseshoer,
when the neighbor's horse was killed,
and now...what was wrong?

She said that Nadia was wandering around outside of the arena and in her yard, without any halter, so she wondered if anyone was watching her. I do let Nadia graze loose sometimes but I am outside with her, watching over her. I thanked her and called my son.
No answer.
I called my daughter.
No answer.
I called the house phone.
My mom answered. She said my son had gone out to the horses and then he had driven to town. She called my daughter over to the phone. I asked her to please put Nadia away.

I called Lisa back and thanked her for letting me know.

This evening, when I got home from work, I went out to feed the horses and, much to my dismay and apprehension, Nadia was locked in the barn, with her stall door wide open. (The stall door won't always latch if the door is slammed shut and Nadia is expert at pushing doors open.) She had had a feast! Every morning, I prepare a couple of cans of beet pulp with water for the next morning's feed. She ate the whole bucket full. I had a pound of alpaca feed and corn in a bucket, sitting on the chair. She ate all of it. I had several unopened bags and one open bag of complete horse feed leaning against the barn wall.

She didn't get into the unopened bags (Thank God!) but I don't know if she had any of the opened bag. She looked like a stuffed pig!  All I could think about was that I hoped she didn't colic.

Earlier in the day, I had thought about riding after dinner. Well, with a horse potentially busting her guts, I figured I'd ride her a while and see if that would help her digestion and maybe, keep her from colicking. I put her in a bridle and bareback pad and I added the pink jingle bell/rhythm beads I received as a gift some time ago. I put on my sweatshirt (it's cold at night- 39F most mornings) and my orange reflector vest and we headed out into the black night. We stayed on the gravel neighborhood roads and we walked and trotted, clip-clopping and jingling all the way. She is such a perky little mare when ridden. She pricks her little ears forward and moves out in a very animated stride. It's hard to believe she's 29! Back at the barn, Scout was trumpeting and Yalla! was neighing frantically, the whole time we were riding around.

I rode Nadia a half hour or so and I could hear her pass gas a couple of times. She was moving out well so I decided that she should be okay.

We went back to the barn and I brushed her down, picked her hooves, and put her away. Then I wandered over to the other horses to say "hi." In the past, when I presented the rhythm beads to Yalla! she didn't want them near her. Tonight, I pulled a trick from the movie, War Horse. I put them around my neck and let Yalla! sniff them. She grabbed them with her teeth and I was afraid she'd break the beads. I pulled them away from her, then I put them over her head, on her neck. I thought she'd take off and run but she never budged. Well, she did step back and they jingled, but she didn't seem to mind at all. I put them and took them off several times. She fidgeted, when I draped them over her side and swung them around her head to tail, but she stood. Good girl! I can see that she's growing up. During the time that I was with the other horses, I could see that Nadia was okay, so I hoped she would continue to do so.

I intend to sleep with my window slightly open tonight so that I can listen for any disturbances in case Nadia does have problems. Hopefully, all will be well. (fingers crossed)

update: all is well this morning. I gave Nadia a flake of hay rather than her usual complete feed pellets.

Ain't got no Hair, part 3

Saturday morning, the sky was again full of smoky haze from the Wallow Fire burning in Arizona, several hundred miles away.

But it didn't stop our plans to shear the alpacas. i got the name of a shearer during the East Mountain Fiber Tour last weekend and we had a date today.

It was good to see how they catch the alpacas using two lead ropes stretched out. When my son and daughter caught them the last time, it took them an hour to corner them. It took these guys about a minute.

 Louise tends to cush at all times. She wouldn't come out of the trailer when they arrived at my place and now she went down when they approached her.

For the first time since I bought them, the alpacas are being haltered. I found out the extra large halters I purchased at the Alpaca Show in Denver last month are a little too big but they are still usable. I should have gotten the large ones for a better fit.

 Once haltered, a quick tug on the lead and the reluctant alpacas led readily across the yard, through the arroyo and into the barn. I sure wish horses were so easily managed.

This gentleman is giving Thelma some "joy juice," an herbal sedative. I cannot remember the name of it but it might be good to have on hand.

 I think Trevor and and Thelma look alike here. Big dark eyes and snarly teeth.

It was amazing to see how gentle they became, once caught.

This shearer likes to shear them standing up. It's faster and easier. However, Thelma didn't agree. She immediately tried to cush.

 It certainly took a team to shear. Sheila was in charge of filling the bags: A, B, and C. This was the blanket, the finest fiber, bag A.

 I couldn't resist getting photos of the curious equines. Annie is the 'fraidy cat and wouldn't come any closer. Yalla! and Scout, like little kids, couldn't get close enough.

It was a lot of back breaking work to shear the girls. To avoid getting the shearer kicked, Trevor had to hold the legs really tight. Fortunately, there was no spitting happening here.

Here's Trevor hanging on to those legs. 

The shearer noticed a lump on Thelma's belly, like a hernia. He suggested that I call the vet out. You can just about make it out in the following photo. I'm glad the shearer noticed it.

  Just like Thelma, Louise immediately cushed. It made it very awkward while clipping the toenails.

 I was pleasantly surprised to find both alpacas reasonably well behaved during their shearing ordeal. They never spit at us and didn't struggle much, They have obviously been handled before.

 It's a good thing her neck is so long with all the hands holding her. lol.

Nadia had a different opinion of the little critters than Yalla!, Scout and Annie. Instead of curiosity, she had animosity

 and flat out charged at poor Thelma.

 Thelma spit at her over and over but it didn't stop the attacks. Nadia would go to the corner and charge the rail. She looks so innocent standing back there, doesn't she? So does Thelma.

 Poor thing! She looks like a cross between a rabbit and a camel.

Here they are the next morning, skinny and DIRTY! I never realized how much alpacas liked to roll in the dirt before. After their fleeces are off, it's a good time to assess their weight. They look just right.

We decided to leave the halters with the catch leads (5 inch straps left dangling for easier catching) on them until we can gentle them down a little more.

Whew! I'm glad that's over for a year. It seemed much less stressful than the shearing I watched up in Denver at the Alpaca Show where the poor things were screeching and spitting away.

The shearer said the girls' coats were shorter than usual, like maybe they had been sheared in the late fall last year. Hopefully, their coats will improve next spring.

Next step, felt making.


Ain't got no Hair, part 2- song: Space Oddity, artist: David Bowie, album: Space Oddity

The Big Fall, part 7

It's been almost five weeks since Scout spooked at the neighbors' pack of dogs while we were out riding and reared over backwards on me. Today was my very much anticipated doctor's appointment, four weeks post surgery (a plate and five or six screws to support my broken tibia, later).

I finally learned how to get to the orthopedics department easily. We parked in the parking garage in a handicap space, then Trevor grabbed one of the wheelchairs next to the elevator. I sat down and he wheeled me over to the elevator and up to the sixth floor and right out, a left turn, and then we entered the open double doors of the orthopedics branch of the hospital. That sure beats going all the way through the entire hospital from the front entrance! I just knew there had to be an easier way.

The nurse undid my surgical splint bandages and then took out the staples, all ten. OWWW!!!!! Gosh, my leg looked so gross with all the shedding skin and strange swellings everywhere. My poor toes are swollen into a spread open position. Here's some photos to disgust you with.

I got a little butterfly bandage for each of the staples. Isn't that cute?

They took X rays and the doctor said it was healing up nicely. I was put in a boot and told to start working my heel downwards. Gosh, it hurts!! I can use my foot for balance but not weight, yet. However, that's enough for me. I'm on crutches now. Two more weeks and then I have another doctor's appointment. He told me I'd get to start physical therapy if all is well at that time. Now, I just need to avoid getting an infection.

When I got home tonight, I made a trek, you guessed it, to see my new hoofstock! Trevor and my neighbor, Lisa, of Laughing Orca Ranch, came along for support.

At first Thema and Louise walked away from us.

Thenm my son brought food and I found out that they are VERY GREEDY!

 Lisa discovered that they are especially fond of carrots.
 I was able to feed them for the first time.

And I got to sneak a pet on the chin of Thelma.

After visiting the alpacas, we made the trip to the barn. Of course!

The horses were neighing at us, even though they'd already had dinner. I'd like to think they were missing me and calling hello. (They probably just wanted the carrots I was holding.)

I did pet Scout too, but, alas, no pictures.

Oh, joyous day! Thanks to Lisa and Trevor for being so supportive and taking pictures.

And, to top it off- I get to take a bath tonight! I just have to be careful not to soak my foot.

Hallelujah~!!