Shoring Up The Old Barn

After being hit by time, a tornado and a severe ice storm, the old barn is not doing very well. After spending most of my holiday removing horse manure for the garden. I worked on shoring up one section that had nothing to nail to.

The beginning, as you can see, it did need some work.

Gathering rocks solved two problems, removed them from the horses way and provided material for my project.
The barn really looks no better but the bottom boards Will not fall and the horses will not cut their feet on these limestone rocks.

From inside the old barn, you can see I have almost broken even with the garden gold the horses left me.

The Water Garden

The canna are blooming despite everything I haven't done.
This could be the reason I have a few holes.

My commode tank flower pot is doing well.

The flowers are taking over, water is almost invisible.

Maybe it should be called a flower garden instead of a water garden.

Here Come Da Doc

Thursday we got to use the round pen. Coggins tests for all equines, five-way shots and gelding for poor Broken Arrow. I also wormed every body since I had them up.

Everything ran smoothly which kinda surprised me. I should have been stepped at least once or pushed out the way, with every one begging for loving. I got fly wipe on everyone, brushed manes and coats and just loved them in general. I was very proud of how well they behaved. My trainer, Samantha or Sam, is responsible for all this good behaviour.

Knot shows his disdain of the whole event by leaving a pile right by the vet's truck.

Magic decided to eat the truck for revenge.

The knock out shot.

We had an audience

The safety tie

Waking up, stallion no more, Broken Arrow

And he's up, feeling woozy.

Mama checking our her big baby. Everything is good.

Talking With The Horses

My Trainer, My Farrier, My Friend

Samantha, or Sam for short, is one of the most awesome young people I have ever met. Sam is one of three adopted children. The parents home school, treat their children respect and values, and teach them how to work. Sam will go to college in the fall.

She trained my Arabian last year at the old age of seventeen, Sam, not the horse. Sam is a hard worker, runs a chainsaw, fixes fence, runs farm equipment, is great with horses and is pretty and smart too!!!

Sam will be taking Magic to train him as soon as I get my coggins report back.

Broken Arrow gets a halter lesson and follow her like a puppy.

She may be whispering because it is working.

Oh, and she makes wonderful cookies, too!

Skywatch From A Speeding Vehicle

A Play Day

Toni, Andrew and I took off to the flat land about two hours away to spend a day not working.

We investigated some history.

Visited the museum at ASU campus

Saw the Arkansas Mastodon

Ate out at Fat City, absolutely delicious food and interesting art.

Found the ladies' room

We saw some flat farm land with growing rice,
irrigation systems

and farmers working the dry fields

and fields ready to plant.

a train

Storage silos

And we even hit a few stores, Target, Pier One, and Big Lots.

Somethimes We Have To Let Go

of our old things to make way for the new. This was a hard decision for us. Dad had built the bull pen and the shelter by hand many years ago. The working chute was wonderful, he had built a ledge to stand on so you could doctor the cows. Sometimes things outlast their usefulness. The old corral had become a danger to stock and man, so after much deliberation, down it came.

We took many before pictures in case our memory starts to fade. We can tell the tales of cutting calves with Dad, when the black bull crashed the fence, when the red bull crushed two gates and how my miniature horses babies were weaned here.
It was like removing a member of the family. No longer can we look toward the barn and see this creation of Dad's mind and the art he applied to the construction.

You can still see the beauty and imagine how grand it looked when newly built.

Do keep in mind it has drooped and dropped and moved a little through the many years of its use.

The deconstruction began.

Sadly, down it came. Bridge ties set by hand, farm milled timber and cedar posts.

Nothing will be wasted. Ties will be used in flower beds, hitching posts and gate posts. The lumber will be trimmed and used to repair the barn. The roof is going to be recycled into a cover for the mineral trough.

And Beverly supervised the Kubota King. We had to level the spot a little since we needed room for a forty foot round pen.

Doesn't look quite level here but it is usable and complete. Not near as pretty as Dad's pen was.

Now, I have no excuse not to work my horses.