More Than Horsin'

08/16/2024

08/03/2024

“Farm work doesn’t make you stronger. It doesn’t make you anything. It reveals you.
There’s gym strong and then there’s farm strong. They’re mutually exclusive. The toughest women you’ll ever meet spend their days on a farm.

There are more uses for twine than you can possibly imagine. You can tie up a hole in a slow feeder, fashion a tail strap for a horse’s blanket, mend a broken fence and use it as a belt.

“Well that certainly didn’t go as planned,” is one thing you’ll say quite a bit.
Control is a mere illusion. The thought that you have any, at any given time, is utterly false.
Sometimes sleep is a luxury. So are lunch and dinner. And brushing your hair.

If you’ve never felt your obliques contract, then you’ve never tried stopping an overly full wheelbarrow of horse manure from tipping over sideways. Trust me, you’ll find muscles that you never knew existed on the human skeleton to prevent this from happening.

When one of the animals is ill, you’ll go to heroic lengths to minimize their discomfort.
Their needs come first. In summer heat and coldest winter days. Clean water, clean bed, and plenty of feed. Before you have your first meal, they all eat.

When you lose one of them, even though you know that day is inevitable, you still feel sadness, angst and emotional pain from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. And it’s a heaviness that lingers even though you must regroup and press on.
You’ll cry a lot. But you’ll never live more fully. You’ll remain present no matter what because you must. There is no other option.
You’ll ask for so many miracles and hold out hope until the very last.

You will, at least once, face-plant in the manure pile. You’ll find yourself saying things like, “we have maybe twenty minutes of daylight left to git ‘er done” whilst gazing up at a nonspecific place in the sky.
You’ll become weirdly obsessive about the weather.
You’ll go out in public wearing filthy clothes and smelling of dirt, sweat and p**p. People will look at you sideways and krinkle their noses but you won’t care.
Your entire day can derail within ten seconds of the rising sun.
You can wash your coveralls. They won’t look any cleaner, but they will smell much nicer.

Farm work is difficult in its simplicity.
You’ll always notice just how beautiful sunrises and sunsets really are.
Should you ever have the opportunity to work on a farm, take the chance! You will never do anything more satisfying in your entire life.”

-Author Unknown

07/23/2024

Traveling home 💙💛⛰️

Watch, follow, and discover more trending content.

07/20/2024

I meant to do that. 😑😆

07/06/2024

06/06/2024

This would have been so helpful! I don’t know how many times I watered the fields due to an overflowing trough.

I always forget to shut the the water off. Now I have this! It might look alarming but, This is a brand NEW gas head. $40 for the handle and components. When it's full- it shuts off just like at a gas pump. I set it in a U bolt and walk away. No more messy paddock when I forgt!

EDIT: to everyone saying "you could just buy floating valves" I have tried them all and most have broken within weeks of purchase. I just threw out another one today. I also prefer to be able to monitor my horses water intake and I simply can remove this when done. They are not the same. Just because they work for you doesn't mean it will work for other people.

Product info: I bought the valve off of Amazon NEW of course. And had to get A female adapter and U joint hardware.

05/24/2024

Loved my little Mountain pony! Good memories, good times.

05/20/2024

New things I’m doing since retiring: raising ducks along with the chickens; shopping at Farmer’s markets for fresh foods; embroidery art but with a practical side; herbal medicines; still have dogs in my life but moved from working breed to lap dogs; trying out little eateries.
I read more, rest more and relish the little things in life more.
There are two boys in my world who are spitting images of their Mamas and I love seeing the many activities my grandsons are into and silly things they come up with.
Life is grand ☀️

05/20/2024

IF HORSES WERE IN HIGH SCHOOL

Quarter horses: Definitely jocks. Strutting around flexing those muscles and showing off their butts. Responsible for all the trophies in the glass case.

Paints: Quarter horses with too much make-up.

Thoroughbreds: Preppies. They are athletes never jocks, monogrammed blankets, leather halters, Nike eventer shoes and the latest custom trailer and tack.

Appaloosas: Stoners. the like to drop acid so they can watch their spots move.

Arabians: RAH! RAH! SIS MOOM BAH! GGGOOOOOOOO TEAM!( Need I say more?)

Shetland ponies: Punks. Spikey hairdos, snotty attitudes and any colour of the rainbow.

Friesians: Bikers. Big, buff, always black, cigs hanging out the corner of their mouths and a dangerous glint in their eye.

Morgans: Nerdy teachers pet running around doing everything from yearbook to decorating the gym and rattling the bikers, stoners and jocks.

Drafts (All breeds): No real clique they're just the big guys who sit in the back of the room and fart a lot.

Hackney ponies: Band geeks. Marching along with their heads and knees held high, even going to the bathroom.

Warmbloods: The school staff and faculty. Looking down their noses with righteous indignation and disgust.

Minis: Primary school students.

Donkeys: Would be the teachers with the ability 'to think' and remember what happened the day before. Less likely to step on your feet when dancing.

Saddlebreds: The ones riddled the teen angst, the artsy, drama club type?

Percheron: Cafeteria ladies.

Mustangs: The free spirits and the "rebels without a cause".

The PTA would be aged broodmares only.

Football team: Well the Budweiser Clydesdale's of course!!!!

04/22/2024

An apple-oosa! 😂

I've got my eye on a well put together, tasty looking Apple-oosa ❤

04/11/2024

Special shout of congratulations to one of “my girls” who has continuously worked towards her goal of becoming a police officer in NY!! I am so incredibly proud of you, Amanda, and wish you continued success as you walk (or ride) this path! ❤️

04/08/2024

03/16/2024

Signs that I had been an equestrian once
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