Silent Sunday

A Room to Call his Own

Well done is better than well said. ~Benjamin Franklin

Back in February, when I was informed that I had the winning bid on Argo, my eyes surveyed the landscape outside my window, frozen tundra period, not very conducive to building anything. I knew in my mind what needed done, but with 'Ole Man Winter bearing down, and Argo being a surprise to my husband, I figured it best to wait until the weather was more conducive to a building project. Well February, rolled into March and then quickly fell into April.

Since August '07, the club I belong to, the PNHA, Inc., had been planning a huge event for the Western Pennsylvania area, called the Horseman's Extravaganza that was set to for the end of April '08. I was very involved with the planning of this event, and it literally took up most of my time, coupled with caring for my father who was battling cancer, and had moved into my home, caring for my children, husband, horses and business, life was just a tad hectic. I truly believe my husband; Jeff had felt I had abandoned him. He also during the month April was busy installing new hardwood floors in my living room and dining room as well as painting those rooms.

In May, I pleaded with Jeff that I needed a shed built inside the round pen. He of course gave me an incredulous look of exasperation. For months, he had dealt with a wife in mourning over the loss of her father, who threw herself into planning a huge event and hid in her barn daily from early in the morning till late at night, to keep from totally coming unglued at the seams and falling into a depression like she had never known. To say he was miffed was a huge understatement. I had not been easy to live with over the past 9 months. He did his best with the short amount of time he had and built Argo a very temporary shelter. I tried my best to be as pleased as possible for his effort, but the look on my face and of course the words that came out of my mouth were not kind. He promised me to build something better. I immediately said "When?!!?" Jeff said "Soon." I kept nagging all summer long. Jeff took a new job that takes him out of state Monday thru Friday and leaves him a day and a half on the weekends. He just kept saying "Soon." Well, push came to shove and "Soon" finished up this past weekend. Jeff, Zared and a friend Jerry erected a very nice 3 sided wood shed for Argo to call his very own. He has light panels installed along two sides, to let in natural light, so it is not dark. He has his own, real wall feeder, instead of a feed tub on the ground, and best of all, I have a gate on the front of his shed, so that Argo and I can really begin working together. For months, it has been on his terms, which is what he needed. He needed to know he could walk away when he felt confined; he also needed to know that I was not a threat, and all this time he has worked out in his head that he has a routine and I believe he enjoys it. Now though, he is hopefully going to learn to accept me in a new way. I am excited and yet cautious as he and I take yet another step in our journey.

The finished product! Thank you guys so much. Now just to convince Argo it's safe to go in.

Playing Catch Up

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. ~Robert Brault

I apologize for the huge lapse in posting. Life has been … busy to say the least. A lot has happened in my life the past few months and unfortunately it does not appear it will get much better any time soon. I have attended a few clinics, show season went into overdrive and my young reining colt, Dell, received a nasty injury to his hock that almost caused his demise. Dell is now 9 1/2 weeks into his recovery and has had to remained tied in his stall the whole time. What a trooper. Finally, my family and I are moving. My husband's job is moving us to the state of Indiana. This is a major upheaval for us. I will quickly update Argo's life thus far… I will expand on these more in the days to come.

• Argo's lead rope came off. The rope just disintegrated. At first I was worried about it, but it has not changed anything in how we interact.
  


• Flash and Argo have become best friends. They were grooming each other through the round pen panels daily. Such a neat thing to watch.
  


• I decided to open the round pen gate to allow Argo the entire paddock. I was concerned he was beginning to lose muscle tone. It took him almost two weeks to finally realize he could just walk out. Now that he has, Flash has lost his turnout with his buddy. I'm not ready to chance putting them together just yet.
  


• We are rapidly working on upgrading Argo's shelter so that I can confine him a little better and get him more comfortable with me in a smaller space.
  


• Argo still will come to us as long as it is on his terms. He still will eat out of our hands and even allow us to scratch on his cheek.
  


• He is still amazing to watch. Now that he has the whole paddock, he enjoys running around as he watches my lesson students ride in the outdoor arena. He is quite breathtaking.
  


• Gnats and Argo do not get along. Next spring he will go on Palatec to eliminate the itchiness. Do to rubbing and itching, he has lost a good portion of his mane. He is still gorgeous though.
  


• Argo is dealing with the season changing into fall and too quickly into winter. I think he is thankful and wondering why he has not seen snow yet.
  
  
  

  

  Argo enjoying all the grass in the paddock.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

A Journey has Begun

For those who do not know what a Kiger Mustang is, I will give you the short version. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has two management areas for a small herd of Mustangs that stood out from the rest. Kiger and Riddle HMA's. These horses are well known for their dun coloring.
Ever see Dreamworks animated movie, Spirit? That movie's main character, Spirit, was based on the Kiger Mustangs.

Anyway, every 3-4 years the BLM gathers horses from these two HMA's and offers them for adoption to the public. This past October a gather was done, and in that gather, a stately gray, Kiger Mustang stood out from the rest. He had been seen years before in previous gathers, but had been turned back out. He now was 17 and offered for adoption. An adoption was held in Burns, Oregon and people from far and wide came to bid on the Kigers. Old Gray or Big Gray as he came to be known as, was looked at and photographed, and passed over for adoption. From what was said, people were worried about his age and being wild, some worried about his color, which years ago was probably thought to be claybank dun, and now is showing to be gray, and others yet probably did not recognize the absolute regal beauty of the stallion standing in front of them.

What was in store for Big Gray? Long term holding pens. Thankfully, people at the Burns facility watched him and recognized his calm demeanor, and offered him in a special e-mail bid adoption.

I had seen pictures, people had taken when they were at the adoption, and his eyes spoke volumes to me. I himmmeedd and hawwweeeddd for weeks thinking about what the impact would be if I were to put in a successful bid. I sent in my application to adopt and was approved. I thought some more, talked to friends who had Kiger Mustangs, those who had come from the wild, the captive bred ones and I looked long and hard at the one standing in my field, who is owned by a friend. My mind was made up and I placed my bid.

Well, I won the bid. Then it kinda hit me what had just happened. Holy Cow! What was I thinking? Well, when my sanity returned, I thought through it as logically as my non-logical brain can and calmed myself down. I have handled and owned stallions for years, even though I realized this would be different from anything I had experienced before. Shipping was arranged and now the wait started.

Well the day finally had arrived and Argo came from Oregon across the country to Western Pennsylvania. I cannot thank the BL M people enough who helped with my many questions and inquirys, sent me pictures when I requested them and dealt with my hectic schedule.

Here is a link to a video of his arrival. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sIBb9m88Ss

He is setteling nicely. He is an absolutely amazing animal.

I will post more tomorrow when I am not so tired