Jesus Gets a Hair Cut

Who am I to mess with Jesus? Who am I to think I know what is best for Jesus and what might make her quality of life better? Well, I am the all knowing chicken wrangler, that's who I am. So Hadley and I rounded up the ol' girl and Hadley provided a squeeze chute of sorts in her arms and I got out the goats hoof trimming scissors (the sharpest scissors known to man kind) and I started cutting and shaping. My goal was to remove some of the excess "baggage", if you will, from the top of her little cabasa and let some light in to her world. Was I successful? Hmmm....I would have to say no. I think it just made it fluffier and I still think her world is just as small as before. What can I say, I tried.

Monday I took Cruiser to meet with Jeff Moore of Equine Rehab and Therapy. I had been patiently waiting for Jeff to make a trip through Walla Walla since July and was not disappointed. This guy was fantastic. He is a chiropractor and it is rare to find someone who understands movement like him. I arrived for my appointment at 3:30 and unloaded the big guy from the trailer, gave him a brief history of my concerns and then walked him away for Jeff to observe. My chief concern with a change in his canter in both directions and some tail swishing. He watched him move again and asked me if he ever sort of stumbled in the back end during downward transitions. Well, in fact he does. His feelings were that Cruiser had developed a way of going to protect his stifles (a horses knee) from slipping out. He is not uncomfortable, for the most part, but is just taking care of himself. He provided all over body work but said it would be secondary to what I needed to provide at home which was some serious conditioning hill work. How convienent to live on a wheat farm with hills right outside my front door! He said conditioning it most likely going to fix this issue but I should also consider a set of exrays to make sure there is no OCD going on in his stifles. I will more than likely be taking him to Nampa, Idaho where they specialize in performance horses and have them take a look a little while down the line. The information he gave me really put some pieces together in the puzzle. Cruiser's lack of ability to do a sharp 360 on the hind quarters is probably based in his desire to keep from working off his hind end as well as the on going issue of getting him to elevate his shoulders and drive from behind while doing rail work. My goodness it was refreshing to get some good insight into what is going on!! Thank you Jeff!

Well, our friends/neighbors have closed on their home in town and moved into it. It feels very quiet and a little lonely out here without them. Tara and her family were a real blessing to have out here for the past month. The girls had so much fun playing and riding and just having another mom to visit with. We had a lot of fun and am sure those memories won't stop with the short distance it takes to get together now that they live in Walla Walla. The picture I have included is from a wild ride the gang took through the irrigation on one of our last hot days on the farm. Everyone was soaked but full of smiles.

So fall is officially here. The nights are much cooler and Doug has spent some time getting the pellet stove we bought at the end of the season last year ready to serve us on many a cold winters night. We bought a great new stove called a Quadrafire and in addition to burning wood pellets it also burns wheat. It is set up in our living room which feeds right into our hallway and bedrooms. Doug and I simply love woodstoves and pellet stoves. This year we might even get a potbellied gas stove for our family room. The biggest draw back is our location which requires us to have an actual outdoor propane tank to run it because we don't have access to a gas line like they do in town.

My grandma is recovering nicely from her knee replacement surgery from almost a month ago. She has good help from Lori, a woman who stays with my grandparents during the day. Lori helps with some of the physical therapy in addition to doing all the cooking and cleaning and anything else they might need. My grandma is an amazing woman to take on a knee replacement at her age but she is tough and we all knew it. I am so thankful to live in the same town as my grandparent, who are both wonderful people. I have so much admiration for both of them and always love it when I get a chance to stop by when I am in town. Kate (Kathryn) is named after my grandma and I can't think of a better namesake.

Doug has been home this week on vacation and that gave me the opportunity to go riding Tuesday with my mom and friend Penny. It is not very often that I get to trail ride and it was the most beautiful afternoon so I jumped at the chance. As always, I rode "my"trail horse Keeper who actually belongs to my mom. She is my horse of choice when we hit the trails. My mom was on her soul mate in the form of a horse, Skipper, and Penny was riding her brand new trail horse Rimzee. Rimzee is an Icelandic horse which is a really interesting breed. They have 5 speeds and the one I believe is perhaps the most amazing is called the tolt which is this speed of light walk/run they are able to perform. Rimzee is very small, 13.1 hands to be exact, and he is bold and cute and Penny will have him polished up in every way before too long. I have included a picture of my mom and Skipper.