New Cats

On Saturday, when we had the internet provider workers over, the farrier over, a new worker to muck out the stalls, and in between me unsaddling Morgan and saddling Rhulain, the irksome renter from across the street came over with her horse in tow.  Now what?!  She said she was moving out of state and needed to find a home for her horse. Would I be interested in adopting the mare?  For free?  

Um, no.

I have my beloved Morgans ... I'm good.

On Sunday our farrier stopped by to tell us the horse ended up at their house.  That's good, they're nice people and they have two horses already. 

Later in the day, the home owner pulled up and found that his renters had deserted without paying him for the last few months.  They did leave him plenty of trash, stole the drawers out of the kitchen, and abandoned a dog.

Sigh.

I took pictures of the dog and posted it on our community garage sales page.  The dog found a home the next day. 

Last night I went to bring in the trash cans and two kittens came darting out of the neighbor's yard towards me.  I got them some water and food because they probably hadn't eaten since Saturday night.  They ate while I grabbed a cat carrier.  

I scooped them both up, dropped them in the carrier, and deposited them in our smaller enclosed yard.  The big dogs can't get to them, so they'd be safe.  

I checked on the kittens this morning. One of them licked our small dog's nose.  They'll be fine. Now comes the fun part ... names!  I was voting for Jupiter and Saturn.  Bill walked out and said "Hey Salt and Peppa!" They looked quite amused.  Sigh.

Next we will get them fixed and up to date on their shots.  There is no way I'm writing Salt and Peppa on vet paperwork.

Mondays with Morgan, Majesty, AND Rhulain

1.80 miles - 40 minutes - Majesty
1.59 miles - 30 minutes - Morgan
0.75 miles - 26 minutes - Rhulain

 I went outside with the intention of taking a nice, long ride.  With the wind kicking up, there were only two horses I trusted ... Majesty and Morgan.  Majesty pushed the stall door so I knew he wanted to go.  He was patient while I adjusted the fit and stirrups of the Aussie saddle.

 It was a nice, uncomplicated ride.  He wasn't sure about the path I chose (too rocky for him), so we opted to follow washes.  He was good as gold until I turned him towards home ... then he wanted to trot.  Turns out, I have no idea how to sit a trot in this saddle. Ha!

 I exchanged Majesty for Morgan and headed back out starting down the same path.  However, she didn't like the path either and veered west.  Well, ok.  We wandered through the sand dunes (which surprised me as she usually hates them) and ended up in the area I call the salt flats before heading home.  She, too, wanted to trot home.  Had only marginally better luck sitting the trot ... I'm leaning way too far forward and reaching for a horn that isn't there. 

After lunch and a nap, I figured I had enough energy for one more horse.  Rhulain met me at the gate and was anxious to get out.  We did ground work, trailer loading practice, and then saddled up.  I had to retrieve the neighbor's dog out of our yard and return it while Rhu stood patiently waiting for me at the front gate.  We did a short half mile since the neighbor's dogs kept getting out and chasing us around.  So, we went home and did a few figure 8s in the front yard while I worked on trotting in this saddle. 

So glad I have patient horses.  Love them all!

Invaders in our Sand Dunes, Neighbors Getting Burgled, and Majesty's Eyesight

45 minutes - 2.28 miles - Morgan, Bill & Majesty

Morgan asked for head scratches ... she swears the bitless is itchy because Rhulain has cooties.  I told her I have the brown one if she wanted to switch, but it might have Sundance cooties and we'd have to walk back to the tack shed.  She decided I should just scratch her forehead some more.

Majesty and Bill had to wait until Morgie got her full head scratching session completed before they could head out the gate.  Sorry guys!

We noticed a white spot in Majesty's right eye as Bill was grooming him.  I think he might have moon blindness, as the eye was watery last week.  We'll do some research and schedule a vet appointment for the old guy.  In the meantime, I kept Morgie in his field of vision so he wouldn't have to crane his neck to find us.

Majesty's hearing hasn't been affected ... say the word "treat" and look how his ears prick right up!

Noticed the back window of our neighbor's house has been pried open.  That house has stood vacant for the 4.5 years we've lived there and no one has bothered it until now.  Our other neighbor had his quad stolen from his property last Wednesday.  *sigh*  Glad we have fences and the dogs running the property.

While we were out, three cars passed us and headed down a wash ... no reason for cars to be there unless they're shooting or dumping (both of which are illegal).  They drove down the wash where the calf/goat carcass is and then got out of the cars with their dog.  As we approached, Majesty caught a whiff of the carcass and started acting out; Morgan saw the dog and started acting silly.

We got the horses calmed down by heading a little farther north then circling around the sand dune.  Looks like the carload of people wanted to take pictures and climb dunes.  I know it's rude, but I hate sharing my dunes with outsiders.

All in all, a disgruntling ride.  The horses were awesome, but I don't like where the neighborhood is headed and I'm worried about Majesty.