Merry Christmas!

Great Blog

Danielle over at If The Trees Had Ears has a wonderful blog following her journey to endurance on her arab, Huckleberry.  She is a veterinary technician and has some wonderful posts very clearly and concisely outlining some very good and basic physiological and biomechanical concepts that I consider essential for endurance.  She summarizes from an APEX clinic she attended, but does a very wonderful job of doing so.  Check 'em out.

Muscle Function

Muscles Massage and Motion

Anatomy of Equitation

Picture Post

A Day in the Life of a Fourth Year Veterinary Student*

5:30 am: Wake up, make coffee and breakfast, shower, feed the horses, feed the goats, feed the bird, feed the cats, feed the dog. 

7:10: Bundle up and leave the house.

7:25: Arrive at school. Look through patient chart, draw up medications.  Physical exam on patient (2406), feed, water, and administer medications.  Grain as a treat for being such a good girl!  Write up physical exam, treatments, and diagnostic plans for the day.

8:00: Patient rounds with clinicians and other students on rotation.  Go through everyone's cases, come up with a plan of action for the day.  Clinicians leave for meeting.

8:25: Walk to neighboring building to get day's newspaper and mail from mailbox.  Read through paper, start Sudoku.

9:30: Decide that 9 am appointment is either not coming or is extremely late.  Make plans to leave for farm visit to dairy in the very near future.  

9:34: Grab coveralls and boots and dash for the bathroom.  Grunt and groan and sweat with effort of putting on coveralls bought when 20 lbs lighter.

9:40: Coverall success!

9:41: Realize group left without you as coverall endeavor took longer than anticipated.

9:43: Pout in chart room, work on Sudoku.  Attempts to sit comfortably in skin-tight coveralls go unrewarded.

10:45: 9 am appointment shows, walk over to docks to watch him arrive.  Stand around in the freezing cold talking to the hired hand while someone convinces the calf to leave the trailer.  Put calf in squeeze chute and watch as physical exam is performed by another student.

11:35: Decide watching another student do a physical exam is boring, wander off in search of salad (need to lose those 20 lbs!).

11:50: Eat lunch, work on Sudoku some more.

12:30 pm: Students and clinicians arrive back from dairy, give them hard time about leaving her behind.  Listen to case reports from dairy.

12:45: Dismissed until 2 pm for lunch break.  Move to new locale to work on Sudoku.  Realize you've made a rare mistake and have to start a new Sudoku.

2:00:  Go back to chart room and told am going to perform an ultrasound on patient, 2406.  Retrieve ultrasound machine that weighs approximately 4500 lbs and wheel into cow exam room.  Retrieve rolling squeeze chute which also weighs 4500 lbs and move to outside 2406's stall.  Put 2406 in squeeze chute, roll into exam room.

2:30: Commence ultrasound examination which shows approximately nothing.  May be able to see an abscess in the omentum if turn head 34 degrees to left and squint right eye.  Decide to take a radiograph of abdomen/thorax.

3:00 pm: Roll 4500 lb squeeze chute and 2000 lb cow to radiology.  Take radiographs, which show she has some lung issues (!!).  Roll cow back to stall.

3:45: Wander around some more, work on more Sudoku.

4:15: Start PM treatments, do quick physical exam of 2406.

4:45: Quick patient rounds with other students and clinicians.  Develop plan for following day.

5:15: Leave for home.

5:30: Arrive home. Feed horses. Walk into front room and realize a goat has been trapped there all day and has peed and pooped and otherwise destroyed room.

5:41: Hold back tears. Close door to room, turn off light.  Will wait for another day.

*Please note this is a very slow service, especially around the holidays.  I like to think I'm usually much busier than this.**

**Not always true--we are a teaching hospital surrounded by hundreds of miles of wheat fields.

Giving Thanks

At this point in my life, I feel like I'm teetering on the edge of a precipice. For as long as I can remember, my life has revolved around the goal of becoming a veterinarian. School, volunteering, studying, exams, working at clinics, obsessing, planning, and everything else. To think that in less than six months that part of my life will be over is both terrifying and exhilarating. Finally, my life can really begin. No one could ever say I postponed life through school, however. My goal was always to get through veterinary school with a sense of perspective--if I died the day after graduation, I wanted not to have any regrets about what I didn't do because of school.

The last time I felt this way was the spring/summer of 2005. I had been accepted into veterinary school, I was set to marry the love of my life, and he had gotten an excellent position at a well-established company in Boise. I could feel the gears in my life grinding and shifting as everything changed, and had that wonderful feeling that anything and everything was possible. The only thing missing at that time were the horses that had been such a constant beforehand, and I made up for the lack by volunteering at an endurance ride in Yakima in July. Little did I know how much that one decision would change my life.

I know I'm an extremely fortunate person, and love Thanksgiving for giving me pause to think about what in life I'm especially thankful for.

- Family. Without my family, I wouldn't be who/where I am today. Although mine isn't perfect, they're pretty darn close to being perfect for me. My parents have always been supportive of my dream, and have pushed me to strive for more in my life at all turns. My Mom instilled in me a fierce sense of preservation in what can sometimes still be a man's world. She taught me how to laugh in even difficult situations, and her passionate love for life is something I often find in myself. Her love for animals was an example I saw from a very early age and remember wondering why all our cats would follow her around the house just wanting to be near her, and why they didn't want the same with me (I think it had something to do with tail-pulling). My Dad instilled in me a sense of constant self-evaluation, whether it was emotionally, mentally or physically. He taught me that this sense I have of wondering when I'll ever "grow up" is one I should keep forever, as he's never lost the ability to act like a fool in any or all situations. He gave me the ability to see both sides of most situations to better be able to make decisions. He taught me about God and becoming the best person I can be. My brother taught me most about what it's like to love and be hurt. He's taught me most about forgiveness. My sister has kept me young--she's 12 years my junior and her trials and tribulations through middle and high school help keep that age fresh in my mind. It seemed like only yesterday I was going through the same ordeal, and am thankful I can [hopefully] give her a sense of perspective.

- Wayne. To me, he is the perfect partner for me. I am better because he is in my life, and I like to think he's better because I'm here. He has been my constant support and lifeline through school, always there to talk when I needed a better sense of perspective of someone to listen while I rant and rave. He gives me the space I need to make decisions and mistakes, and is always there to help when things don't go as planned. I can tell him anything and everything. We can have passionate debates about life and politics and kiss and make up at the end. He can (and will!) tell me when I'm being a jerk, but is always in my corner when things get bad. He is my biggest cheerleader, my biggest supporter, and my best friend.

- Friends. I have been extremely fortunate with friends, and every one has taught me something new about life and myself. I’m feeling a little sad about having to leave all the great friends I’ve made at school these past years, but am excited to be finally moving to Boise to have normal friendships with new friends.  I’ve formed new friendships and had friendships fall to the wayside during this time.  I’m going to miss everyone dearly, but must admit I’ll miss PJ especially.  I don’t know if he knows what an influence he’s had on me but it’s been quite profound.  He pushes me to the edge of my comfort zone on a regular basis, but does so with extreme patience and understanding.  Our treks into the Moscow Mountain wilderness are almost like a religion to me, and I love that we can just be quiet together and observe the beauty around us.  I like that he can be a grumpy old curmudgeon set in his ways, and still won’t admit that Jasper being barefoot is a good thing for him.  I like that he won’t change his mind about shoeing his horses, even though they all have fabulous feet.

- Me. I couldn't have accomplished any of the tremendous things I've done without myself. I've worked hard, made sacrifices, and will get to enjoy the benefits when I'm all finished. I'm not perfect, and never will be. However, I've learned very well from my mistakes in life and regularly reflect on how they've affected me. I talk too loud, laugh too much, and generally take life less seriously than most. I may not ever be as buff or skinny as I'd like, but find that every minute spent thinking about how unhappy I am with myself is a minute of my life wasted. I'm healthy, relatively fit, and can do any/everything I put my mind to. I love good cheese, good chocolate, great wine, good beer...the list goes on and on. I have my sight to admire the beauty in the world, my smell and taste to savor the delicious, my hearing and my sense of touch.

 - The Zoo.  Not a day goes by that one of the animals makes me laugh out loud with a really deep belly laugh.  Bongo has a tap-dancing routine at feeding time to make sure I know EXACTLY what it is he wants.  Sammy is always causing trouble with a big goofy smile on her face.  The goats running and jumping and twisting in the air when I come out in the morning to feed.  Callie knickers deeply and throatily when I open the door in the morning and evening for, you guessed it, feeding time.  Jasper stands blinking over the gate at me when he’s bored.  Onyx gets Jasper to move by backing up to him at mach 10 and double-barrels him repeatedly—Jasper usually responds by holding his head in the air and otherwise ignores him.  Momma cat runs around the house in the morning playing with invisible mice and regularly levitates at invisible ghouls and imagined attackers.  Frady’s favorite mood is annoyed and plays epic games of “Does this Bother You?”  Oscar makes the sliding shower door of our Boise house every morning when I get in the shower in Pullman (which is a curtain). 

 - Endurance.  When I was younger, I wanted to be a veterinarian that did hunter/jumper on the weekends and maybe dabbled a bit in dressage.  I figured when I graduated I’d get a nice warmblood and ride the local circuits on the weekends.  Boooorrrriing.  I’d heard of endurance on and of when I was younger, but it wasn’t until that summer of 2005 that I actually made the leap to attending a ride and seeing what it really was all about.  I remember leaving and warning Wayne there was a real risk I was going to come back loving the sport.  I was very right about that.  I think what I love most about the sport is the continuous advances in equine sport physiology and nutrition.  The better educated a rider is about how the horse actually works, the better off they are for doing the sport.  Everything about it fascinates me, and I feel so lucky to have been first introduced to barefoot horsekeeping because of my lack of finances to shoe (although I will admit from a VERY early age the idea of nailing steel on a flexible horse hoof made very little sense to me).  Eventually, I realized it was a following, and have since decided it’s the only way I will go whenever possible.

What is it you’re most thankful for?

On the Road Again

On Monday, I'll head down to Boise for my final two weeks of vacation until I graduate (although I'll have one more week of vacation during the week of Christmas, I'll be staying in Pullman).  Wayne is up for the weekend, and will be trucking the boys down with him when he leaves.  I'm looking forward to spending some time catching up with friends and just lounging around the house, and can hardly believe the next time I'll be doing this for longer than a day or two at a time will be after I graduate!

I'm going to spend the time working with Onyx doing some basic groundwork lessons.  I would like to have him walking and trotting on a longe line in both directions by voice commands, as well as a solid "whoa."  I'll start doing some long-lining with him in a rope halter, and my goal for the two weeks is to get his first couple of rides underway.  After this, we may or may not have time to repeat the lessons before spring.  In the spring I'm debating how to get things started.  My good friend, Lacy, does such an excellent job getting young minds going very solid under saddle.  However, I think it's about time I learned how to do it myself.  So I'm considering asking her to work with Onyx and I to get him going.  I'll probably board him there for 30 days or so and plan on going out every day to work with him.  I have a fairly easy February, and think this would be the perfect time to get it done.  I've also got a nice, easy March so should be able to reinforce our lessons then.

As far as Jasper's concerned, we'll do some nice rides out while I'm home with Wayne and Obsidian.  Nice, slow, relaxed, no goals type of rides.  Obsidian needs to get out more often, and Jasper just needs something to do.  I'm also planning to meet a friend with both boys while Wayne's at work to get Onyx out and about in Boise terrain a bit.  I think it will be a fun couple of weeks!

My spring goals are a little unclear at this point, other than getting Onyx going under saddle so he can start doing baby trail rides and other fun, horizon-expanding activities under saddle.  I graduate on May 9th, after which I have a wedding to attend on the 15th.  Wayne and I are planning to finally take our honeymoon and are going to Italy for three weeks and are returning around June 9th or so.  Unfortunately, this combined with the fact that I'll be in Portland for a month in April doesn't leave me the most time to get Jasper conditioned for his first season of real endurance.  However, I'm contemplating taking Jasper with me for the month of April and boarding him and doing some conditioning while I'm there on an externship.  We'll see.  So far, the calendar seems to be heavily weighted early in the season and late, with July being almost completely naked.  Hopefully, that will fill in and give me a better idea of goals to set for myself for the 2010 season.

Either way, I'll probably start seriously re-conditioning in February or March of this year, with a goal of being ready for Jasper's first 50 in June.

Update

My home for the next five days.

I apologize for the recent absence.  Not only has nothing really been going on, but I've been on large animal ICU overnights for the past week and a half, and the schedule is really starting to take its toll on the zoo and I.  It's a fairly laid-back rotation, and we've had no emergencies.  I haven't decided whether this is a good or bad thing yet.  Good for the horses, bad for me.  

Recent snowfall on the farm.

I took Jasper for a short road ride this past weekend since I have a feeling the Mountain will be closed for the remainder of the season due to recent snow.  We had a pleasant enough time, and although Jasper got a little jiggy about a quarter mile from home, he held it together.  

Coming home, I crested a different hill to drop down onto our property.  At the top I called to Onyx, who promptly poked his little head out of the barn....and started running back and forth like we were a couple of cougars on the prowl.  Just as we reached the bottom of the hill, Onyx took a full-tilt gallop towards the corner and popped up and through the top rail of the fence.  Once he landed, he must have realized who we were, and casually strolled up as if he'd meant to do that.  I couldn't help but laugh, but admit I held my breath as he galloped and leapt through the air.  He had only a superficial scratch on his front right foreleg and some missing hair.  He was, understandably, a little shaken but pulled through like the little champ he is.

Onyx's injuries.  You can see the missing hair from his legs just above the knee and the long scratch on his right leg.

Our goals for the winter are simple: Fatten up the ponies, get some good groundwork done on Onyx, and maybe (just maybe) do a couple of first rides on him.  So far, Jasper is looking quite plump, and I can no longer feel ribs on him even when I poke (a fact he SO appreciates...grouch).  Onyx is going through another growth spurt and has lost the prominent spine he had when I brought him home.  I can still feel his ribs, but he's got a better fat layer on top now.  I'm probably going to back off on Jasper's fatty-mashes and continue beefing up Onyx's. 

Onyx, 11/17.

Look, Ma! No spine!

One Year on the Trail

Today marks the one year anniversary of Jasper's first ride out of an arena.  I could hardly believe it--we were up at the mountain today with Onyx in tow.  He's changed so much--he spooked once at a turkey (I couldn't blame him), and while he is still kicking out and being otherwise grouchy with Onyx, he's improved already on only our second ponying ride.  

Onyx seems to be getting the hang of things, and we even did a little bit of trotting.  Onyx had his ears forward and was looking around and seemed to be really enjoying himself.  To mix things up again, I put a bareback pad on Onyx for this ride so he could start to get the feel of brush pushing and tugging at something on his back.  He didn't blink an eye.  

Jasper also impressed me by getting the ponying rope stuck under his tail three times.  The only reason I noticed is because there wasn't as much "give" as usual and when I looked back, there it was.  Good boy!

Onyx is still sticky in the trailer, but has improved very much from our first battle.

I've decided Onyx's tack color will be blue, more specifically, sparkly blue.  He looks stunning in his new dark blue halter, but the sparkle blue is a bit lighter.  It doesn't look as impressive in pictures as it does in person, and I've been told it's quite subtle on the horse, as well.  Only Onyx and I will know!

Onyx, the Mountain, and the Trailer

Last Sunday (10/18), I planned to take Onyx to the Mountain for his first pony ride. The morning of, I hooked up the trailer and spent about an hour working with him on loading. Eventually, he hopped on with no rearing, no balking, no nothing. Great, we were ready to go. I thought.

That afternoon, he loaded again in less time. We were making progress, and so I latched the trailer and off we went for our adventure. We tacked up and I admit I had butterflies in my stomach--it's been a while since I've done something for the first time with my horses! While PJ finished with his horse, we made a few small circles around and I had to chuckle at Jasper's attitude--his little brother was already getting on his nerves!

We set out and I discovered keeping a fresh horse and youngster in check was a lot of work, and soon found the tangle of lead rope and reins to be a logistical nightmare. PJ borrowed Onyx and showed me how to pony more correctly, and Onyx made a quick study. We were soon off down the trail, and Onyx spent the first hundred yards or so looking and balking at bushes, trees, rocks and stumps. It seemed he learned quickly that the "big boys" weren't concerned with such things and put on a brave face to be one of the crowd. We exposed him to all kinds of new things--downed logs, turkeys, bushwhacking, and mud. He did wonderfully, and Jasper surprised me by minding his P's and Q's most of the time, and only kicked out at Onyx once. He did, however, have a nasty snarling face the entire time just to make sure I knew how good he REALLY was.

When we got back, I was a little anxious about loading him in the trailer since he didn't really have it completely down yet. Of course, he refused to get in the trailer. I won't get into the nitty gritty, but 2.5 hours later PJ and I gave up and called it a night. We put a corral around PJ's trailer and dumped Onyx's food in there for the night and I went home with only Jasper.

The next day, Onyx hadn't gone in the trailer at all during the night and refused to go in all day. PJ called a buddy of his that has a lot of experience with green horses and trailers, and his friend said to lunge Onyx away from the trailer and let him rest near the trailer. I've tried this theory before with horses, but unfortunately, they were typically very well conditioned endurance horses and so I don't think I stuck with it long enough for it to be successful. Either way, PJ said after about an hour, he could get Onyx to load every which way. He refreshed him the next day and then let me know he was ready to be picked up. I was very impressed with his skills, and it took a huge load off my mind to know this first big hurdle was relatively easily met and passed. PJ said he had really enjoyed working with Onyx and kept commenting on how reasonable and nice he was about everything. Thank Goodness!

In other news, this recent Sunday (10/25) was Jasper and my one year anniversary of being together! When I think back over this past year, I'm amazed at what the two of us have accomplished. A year ago--heck, six months ago--I would have never imagined Jasper being able to pony another horse through Moscow Mountain terrain. He and I have really developed as a team this past 12 months, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what we accomplish together over the next year. I'm constantly grateful he came into my life.

Ony Pony has a Fit

Ideally, today was going to be Onyx's first outing to Moscow Mountain. Unfortunately, he had other plans and unequivicolly refused to get into the trailer. The temper tantrum was quite impressive, and even included an episode of going over backwards when Wayne didn't let go of the rope soon enough. No harm done--we were loading on very soft grass and he didn't hit his head. I think he ended up scaring himself pretty good because he sat up sternal for a bit before being coaxed to stand again. Guess who's getting his grain ration in the trailer for the next week?

Needless to say, we didn't let a baby tantrum get in our way of fun, and Jasper, Wayne and I headed up to the mountain for a very chilly ride. Temps this morning were in the teens, and made a serious effort to warm into the 40's for the high of the day.

Whenever I've taken a break from riding (as I have for the past couple of weeks), I love the way I just "click" back into the saddle like it's where I'm supposed to be. We had a fairly brisk ride today, and Jasper had terrific recoveries and asked to push the pace faster and faster (I didn't let him, of course).

I'm just finishing up my equine orthopedic surgery rotation, which ended up being much more interesting and fun than I had thought it would be. It's amazing the things our surgeons are able to do with injuries that I would have previously considered to be career-enders. I have a ton of patients and patient care on this rotation, but love all of them and enjoy spending part of my day with every horse. I am constantly amazed with the differences in horse personalities!

Sales Pitch

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Parelli-Goat!!

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*Parelli dog costs extra.

First Big Boy Outing

I awoke this morning to a day of possibilities.  Not only did I have no patient care, but I had no other obligations.  An entire day to myself to get caught up on stuff around the house.  Never before have I been so excited to attack a check list!

First on my list of non-mundane tasks was to start tackling Onyx's feet.  He had been due for a trim a few weeks ago, but due to some family tragedies of the breeder, he wasn't able to get done.  I had picked up his feet and taken a quick glance when I was playing with him last weekend, but they were so packed with sand I hadn't really gotten a good idea of what was going on down there.  Today I got a much better look, and I think I've got my work cut out for me.  He's got fundamentally good feet, but he's got long heels, extremely chronically long bars, and is in need of some serious sole exfoliation.  In addition to all this he's three and has the attention span of a goldfish.  I tried to take this into major consideration and was patient, moved with him when he goosed, and gave him frequent breaks.  Between tackling his feet, I started working with him on moving in a circle on a line.  I've never had a horse that didn't know how to do this, and it was interesting to see how quickly he caught on.  His "circles" are still more like triangles, but he's getting better.  I halfway did his front two and decided to call it a day--he was being good and I wanted to end on a good note.  I could tell his patience was wearing thin, and so we stopped.

Front right before I touched it.  This is the worse of the two.  You can see the long bars and super long heels.  But you can also see he's got good feet hiding under all that!

Front left, after some work.  I took down the bars and heels some more and brought back the toe quite a bit after this.  I'll post better "after" pictures later once his feet look presentable.

After going for a bike ride, getting house chores done and taking a delicious nap, I went out and caught Onyx again.  Today he would be going for his first "out" adventure.  I also decided I wanted to put my light Wintec english saddle on him to see how he did with something other than the bareback pad.  I was surprised how nonchalant he was about the ordeal, and simply continued trying to eat the weeds that border the driveway.  I cinched up the girth and prepared for some kind of reaction and got none.  Off we went, and our departure was accompanied by desperate whinnies from Jasper who was less than thrilled with being the odd man out.  Luckily, Onyx didn't answer and seemed curious and interested in the sights and sounds.  Everything went really well until we reached the end of the road where the flock of evil, horse eating sheep live.  They had been waaay out in the pasture when we approached and apparently thought we were a food provider because they came running and thundering in.  Onyx had his head and tail flagged as high as they could go and was doing the roaring snort at the herd.  Things were looking fine, albeit a little tense, until the neighbor dogs decided to come barking up from down the road.  This was about the limit of poor Onyx's brain capacity, because he started circling and prancing and acting like he was going to try to make a break for it.  The owner finally came out and called the dogs, and I tried to pretend like this was all no big deal while we continued down the road.  Onyx did eventually calm down enough and we made it back home without incident.  I'm hoping that's not the only thing he remembers from his first outing, because most of it was pretty good!

Onyx spots the sheep. He did very, very well for his first time in a "real" saddle.  We even did some trotting (jogging), and he was unfazed.

The source of the angst. I'd be scared, too.

I'm looking forward to this view in the future!

Onyx looking much more relaxed and forward.

Our really tall shadows.

Stones

Onyx was no impulse buy.  I've been playing with the idea of bringing a youngster into my life.  I wanted something with a sense of humor, a stable, sensible mind, and a conformation and attitude for endurance.

I can take no credit for discovering the him--my friend emailed me a picture of him months ago, firmly planting the seed in my mind.  I contacted the breeder to find out more, and was encouraged by her description of him.  She described him as curious, confident, a leader.  She described him as being extremely smart, very people-motivated, and with a sense of humor.  I was also sent a video of him trotting across the arena.  I kid you not, I gasped when I saw it--he took my breath away.  He had endurance written all over every stride, every move.

Unfortunately, I was unable to meet the fellow until this past weekend.  I knew the chances of me taking him home were about 95%, and even that is a low estimate.  When we drove up, my friend had prepared me to meet him. 

"Remember, he's a slow to mature line.  And remember the yearlings he's with are all GIANT."

I was anxious and expected Onyx to be a small thing.  He was not.  He met my standards for height immediately--I did not feel like an Amazon standing next to him.  We got the youngsters to move out and I got to witness his breathtaking trot first-hand.  Honestly, though, I was not completely convinced I wanted to take on this project until the breeder suggested I take him out and spend some time with him alone.  That's when I realized what a phenomenal mind he's got.  He let me do just about anything I wanted with him.  I don't think our challenges will be fear--I think they will likely be channeling his mind and energy in a positive, constructive direction.  But he's eager to please, so I think even that won't be insurmountable in the least.

When Wayne and I went to pick him up the next day, he loaded in the trailer without much ado.  Just a can of COB, a rope halter, and he hopped on like he'd been doing it all his life.  He didn't make a peep during the trip--just ate his alfalfa hay like an old pro.  I could see his pink-tipped nose looking around during the trip (I have an awful habit of keeping one solid eye on the noses in the windows when it's warm enough to have them open--Jasper spends the whole trip sniffing and looking out the windows).  

We arrived home amid whinnies from Jasper and Callie, almost as if they'd been expecting our return.  I pulled Callie out of the pasture and turned her loose (she got turned in with Olive, eventually), and let the dogs out of the truck.  One goat was running back and forth ON TOP of the horse trailer, and the other jumped in the back the moment I opened the door.  Callie decided she wanted to see what the commotion was about, and Sammy was barking at both Callie and Onyx from just outside the back of the trailer.  Onyx unloaded well despite the commotion, thank Goodness.  I figured it was trial by fire for him--our place is a definitive zoo.  I turned him out with Jasper, and they became instant friends.

Today, when I FINALLY got home from school, I visited with the boys for a few minutes before putting a halter on Onyx and pulling him out.  I brushed him for a bit and took him for a quick walk down the driveway (accompanied by two goats and two dogs).  He was very interested in the goats, but didn't blink an eye at the devil-possessed garbage can.  When we returned, I fetched the bareback pad, threw it on him and cinched it up.  Not a flinch.  We again walked down the driveway, me expecting him to be a little goosey at the new thing on his back.  None.  We returned, I loosened the girth and proceeded to throw it back and forth on his back.  Nothing.  So I put it on his butt and walked him.  No reaction.

Again, I believe our hurdles will be channeling energy and brains, not fear.  I'm looking forward to our journey, that's for sure.

New Family Member

More to come tomorrow, but in the meantime, I'd like to introduce Belesemo Onyx!