About the Horses of Windy Hill

Some of you may know that I own several horses and occasionally train horses for other people.  I've decided to include the latest horse in training here on my blog just because it's fun and it also proves that I am  not always stuck inside doing things that turn out to be another epic fail here on Windy Hill:)

Argent 6 yr old Dales Pony

This is Argent, he first came to me when he was approximately 6 months old.  He was a wonderful student and a quick learner.  Since that time, I have down sized by about 20 acres and only have the room for one training horse at a time.  Argent is the first one here.  I love Argent.  He is here to learn that the super spooky horse eating battery operated childs toy will NOT leap out and attack unprovoked...aaannnnd, that it really is okay to stand quietly when he is under harness.

Argent was trained to drive and ride.  He actually does really well both.  But we want more than "really well" we want, superb! stupendous! Amazing! This is due to the fact that Argent owns 4 boys of his very own.  All of which are quite precious and are in need of a solid, steady, easy going, non-spooking large pony:)

Cue John Lyons Apprenticeship  trainer ...ME.

The first thing we worked on were the round pen steps

move your feet

 Some of the round pen steps are:

• Move your feet when I move mine
• Stop when I stop
• Yield to Pressure 
• Come to me
• Follow me
• Drop your head
• Relax
• Back up 

back up when I cue from far away

back up with me when I back up

come to me

Follow me

Argent did all of these relatively quickly.  

Now it was time for relax ~ relax in this particular instance is to be translated as "No matter what is going on, you (horse) need to trust that everything is going to be okay.  I'm your leader, and I will let nothing happen to you."  One of the issues I noted with Argent is that when he is trussed up in his fancy harness his body language says to me "I'm nervous, I'm not sure about this, I'm going to stand still, but I'm not going to like it." I want his body language to say "I'm relaxed, I'm comfortable with whatever it is you are doing." So, we started simply, with just the lariat ~ would he be relaxed with the lariat flopped onto him (relating to the harness)

Not relaxed 

Okay THIS is how Argent looked when we first started with the Lariat....now if he looks like this with a simple lariat, I certainly wouldn't want to put a harness on him, much less hook a cart up to him.

Relaxed

aaaah, now this is how he looked when we were finished for the day.  Head down, and ears held apart.  No stiffness!  As you can see from the lighting this took quite some time.  But we did it and I'm proud of him.

The horse eating tractor?  Well, that's for another day, but he WILL approach it now.  He's doing much better with that as well!  

You see?  I may be the opposite of a "handy woman" when it comes to my fixer upper house, but give me a horse and a lariat and I can make GOOD things happen:)

And that is why we have horses here on Windy Hill ~ so I can  prove to myself on a daily basis that there ARE some things I am good at:)

New Widgets and VICTORY!

HEY! I figured out how to ad new widgets to my blog!  How awesome is that?!  Look for more soon:)  I am really into the widget thing...wonder if I can get a clock and weather??? Just saying...

I do believe my favorite Widget is the one that says "Support My Blog"  I do believe that is important to have blog support...maybe I can "rent a husband" for the weekend and get the computer desk put together?!!  How awesome would that be?  Even better, I could maybe get my roof fixed..what do you think?  Okay, that may be pressing it,  but believe you me, every little bit helps around here.  

Anyway, I did want to report a small victory in the world of Windy Hill and trying to fix things up around here...

My two expert "pretty handwriting" people seem to think they have more important things to do in their lives than trace the word "Bless" on my wall.  Sheesh, I have no idea why that would be...

Anyway, I did it myself and consider it a victory..(I used the NOT computer desk to put the sharpie on when I was finished:)

Alright FINE, the photo didn't turn out that well...let me explain, the word "Bless" on the wall there is barely visible to the human eye..so it looks like my wall glibly states "Our home with love and laughter" talk about a sentence fragment...SO, what I did was Trace the word BLESS in black Sharpie permanent marker.  NOW the wall reads "Bless our home with love and laughter"

Ahhh, the sweet light of victory...now I have a horse to play with ~ look for him on my Blog soon!

Listen to the DOG

Remember the computer desk that I so innocently mentioned last time we gathered here at this friendly up-beat blog?
Right so my great ego said I could put it together...

computer table

Seriously?  After spending TWO hours trying to figure out how to get this confounded, ridiculously difficult thing back together...I slumped to the floor, put my head in my hands, and sobbed uncontrollably, complete the picture with a big, doofy-darn-mastiff slobbering on my knee.  Because we ALL know that this is the way to make the desk put itself together!

I took a little trip down irrational ally in Melissa land...Yep I had a good 'ol fashioned self pity party here in the middle of my dirty floor surrounded by computer table parts and pieces, cursing the movers who took it apart to safely transport it!  THIS - THIS is what I have been reduced to, a sobbing, non-computer-desk-putting-together-no-job-having-mastiff-owning-mess!

As I'm sobbing into my hands, I hear this SQUEAK, SQUEAK, SQUEAK...naturally, in my state of woe-is-me..I think that mousezilla has discovered me and wants to bite my toe....



I wonder if he can put together this stupid computer desk?!!!
Sniveling (just like the kids do), I look up and look around, only to see that the Mastiff has abandoned me in favor of chewing up my crocks!!  Hence the squeaking sound ~ for those of you who are NOT slobbery, big, doofy, dog owners, THIS is the sound of a Mastiff chewing the only shoes you have with you.  GREAT!  Just great, I'm too pathetic even for the DOG to hang out with.  I yank my crock away from the dog and put it on my foot, not bothering to wipe it off first....(bad idea ~ I regretted this immediately)  Still feeling sorry for myself though, I did not do anything about the slimy crock upon my foot.  Instead, I looked for my other crock.  Wiping my eyes and sniffing, I absently wonder if the missing crock is stuck under one of the larger parts of the computer desk.  I look accusingly at the dog who immediately rolls over on his back doing his best rendition of  "I'm not really here, I've already died 1000 deaths, don't look at me that way"  Thus exposing the other crock sticking out from under his large chest.  I walked towards him and I sware he closed his eyes even more tightly.  I took the other crock and put it on too.  I rolled my eyes at the dog and decided to do something more productive with my time ~ like count the ceiling cracks or watch the un-mowed portions of my grass grow.

I have decided to use the computer desk as-is, and listen to the dog.

"Sink my teeth into something and knaw on it until it either falls apart, it's taken away,  or something new is created from it!"






My newly created NOT computer desk is working out just fine for now.

zzzzzzzzzzzz

Why My Grooming Room is NOT Painted

You know, when I left here I really DID go to the grooming room and I started wiping down the walls and getting rid of the yet MORE hideous wall paper.  Then I received my daily 3:30 p.m. call from Mr. Drywall himself...to tell me that my Old English Mastiff dog named "Doom" had had a "minor" accident in the cage.  This means he was covered in poop and so was the cage.  Michael was on his way out the door ~ he had simply stopped by home in order to give the horses some hay (and let out said stupid dog) and had no time to wait for me to get home.  This means that the dog would have to be outside...alone..by himself.  There are CARS out there.  We certainly couldn't put the dog back into the house, he will chew anything that doesn't chew him first...not to mention the poopy paws.  SIGH.  This means I had to leave my station in the groom shop and go home to clean up the dog...and the wall the cage is next to...and the cage....

The above is Doom.  He is still a puppy, and therefore prone to accidents.

The above is Doom and Elsa (my female Highlander cat)  They are playing with the lazer pointer.  So...you see a bit about Dooms personality.  He is just a big doofy puppy right now.  Though, I do appreciate the fact that he does have a big protective streak in  him.  This also means that if someone has not visited in awhile, he has to "approve" them before I can let them in the door again.  

In the meantime, I had to get my belongings out of storage before they sold it all for charity or whatever it is they do to it if you leave it there.  SO...once again, Cue Michael to the rescue.

  He takes a U-haul over to storage and loads almost the WHOLE thing singlehandedly.  He did get some back up help for a few of the heavy things.  

Michael loaded ALL of this by himself!!  Mr. Superman!:)))

As per the norm, the other person who was supposed to help never showed up.  The one person who did help in the morning had a very legit reason for not being able to stay.  This left me to call my friends and beg for help...on a Friday...in the middle of the day!   Who does this?  Well, heaven was smiling on us, as one of my friends let us borrow her husband.  He helped Michael with everything else.  They made TWO trips.  They worked their hineys off.  They got it done.  They worked at it until 4:00 a..m.   I can't express how much I appreciate it. 

So, still ~ what does all THIS have to do with the Grooming Room?  I was called away, got the dog/cage/wall taken care of..why isn't it painted yet? (ahem)

THIS is why it is not painted...

 Remember when we (okay THEY) moved everything from storage?  Well, it all got packed into the house in various places...in essence I changed storage units.  The house though...it doesn't charge me monthly to keep my stuff here (it charges for other reasons.LOL)

The Dining Room

The above photo is the Dining Room ~ suffice it to say that the whole REST of the downstairs pretty much looks like this (filled to the ceiling with unidentified furniture, boxes, and other whoknowswhat. )

Now, you must be asking yourself WHY didn't they put the stuff into the appropriate rooms?  RIGHT?  Let me count the ways...

• It was waaaay later than we had anticipated, we had borrowed a friends husband and he had already worked all day and we wanted to save time so he could get home at a decent hour.
• Michael wanted very much to go see his Fairy Princes Girlfriend  and again in the interest of time, just piled stuff in wherever it would fit.
• The dining room floor needs to be reinforced before we can put the heavy dining room table on it and expect it to hold.  
• The rooms upstairs are not ready yet for the furniture as they are not finished yet.

Why aren't  the rooms finished?
Why wasn't the dining room floor already reinforced?

 Please see item two noting Fairy Princess girlfriend AND Michael works, TWO jobs AND is remodeling Fairys house ...he doesn't exactly have free time you know.

This 

PlusTHIS

Plus THIS

Equals THIS

And THAT is why my grooming room is NOT painted:)  

I know the next question is...(drum role) why not find someone else who is less busy?  I don't know anyone else and money does not grow on trees.  Michael does these things out of the kindness of his heart (and luckily Fairy Princess allows it.) Other people want money.  Sooo, 

I still have to do the upstairs rooms first.  (more you tube videos for me ~ need to know how to put down carpet, and finish up the wall repair in one bedroom) THOSE things will be my NEXT adventure.  

Meanwhile...I MAY try to put together the computer desk...and I have a horse to train and cats to care for and family to cater to (my favorite thing) and a job to find..and that's all I need to do and everything will be great.:)

A Little Background

I really wish I had started this blog from the day that I purchased this monstrosity of a house I have aptly dubbed "Windy Hill."  I call it (affectionately) Windy Hill because every single time I come out here it is WINDY.  As soon as you get up the driveway, the wind starts.

What inspired me to start this blog today is that I have the feeling that it will be an on-going adventure.  I purchased the house three years ago, and I am just now starting the moving-in process.  My roommate and dry-wall expert Michael has been the biggest help.  Okay..he does it all and I stand around and whine about how long it's taking...but lets not split hairs here.  Sometimes I give him soda pop.

What inspired me today you may ask?  I'll tell you....The ceiling in the kitchen had a big hole in it from when the whole house had to be re-plumbed (is that even a word "re-plumbed?" ) for the THIRD time.  Thank goodness I left the hole there long enough for the plumbing to be done so many times.  

Note the hole in the kitchen ceiling.  Well, Mr. Drywall fixed the hole for me (after the plumbing incidents) But he has not had time to texture said ceiling to match the rest of the kitchen texturing ~ which he hates by the way.  I get the bright idea that I am finished being a useless bystander in this process I ~ the girliest of all girls ~ am going to texture the ceiling.

One You Tube Video later...

I gathered Michael's dry wall stuff and set about texturing the ceiling...after all how hard can it be right?  Okay, there are some tips I should share here:

1. Do very small parts at a time ~ even smaller than the previous hole-patch in your ceiling or the dry wall mud will dry and you have to re-do.

2. Make it a bit thicker than you think you need to ..think very puffy pancake batter.  Otherwise, as you put the dry wall mud on said ceiling, great glops of it will fall on your face and in your hair....this is the precise moment the local farmer will stop by to wish you well...

• I answered the door looking like a bad scene from "Something about Mary"  ...think hair-gel.  I wondered why he was looking at me so quizzically as he welcomed me to the neighborhood.  He left quickly.  When I happened to glance in the mirror on my way back to the now drying dry-wall mud I was mortified.  Let the rumors begin.

I thickened the drywall mud and went back to work.  Dry wall mud is like cake-icing, if it's still wet and you mess it up, you can use your finger and skim it off and re-do!  Wonderful stuff drywall mud.  

Using two plastic bags and the trowel with the handle on it (like in the video) I textured the ceiling!!  I am SO proud of myself!!!  Does it look like the rest of the kitchen...well, that part is debatable.  But you know what?  I did it myself and I am proud of it.  I even rinsed the buckets out and cleaned up the floor the way Michael likes it.  Will he approve?  Highly doubtful....will he notice?  Moderately doubtful.  I do know one thing, he will be relieved that it wasn't him who had to do it. 

Faraway                                           and                       up-close ~ pretty good hu?!

Another big help around here is Ashley, my very best friend and partner in all adventures great and small.

Ashley helps because she is blond and easy to trick:)  Ashley is the official design coordinator around here and if I paint a wall, or rearrange a plan without going to her first, I am sure to hear about it ~ for days ~ she is a Scorpio.  Yes, Ashley, you are welcome for using this picture and not the one with you eating chips in your sweatpants with your hair up....but don't think I won't use it if I need to black mail you into picking up a paint brush around here!!

I am now off to paint the cat room/grooming room.  Photos to come!