Pony Club Quiz Kids- Whiz kids!

Okay, that was a long hiatus from blogging! But, we have not been idle.
I am excited to share some photos from the burgeoning transformation of Salem House. I feel like I have so much to do there, but it helps to catalog what has been done. I will post photos of the kitchen soon. It is mostly done, but does need a refrigerator (I hate to spend the money!) Two of the bedrooms are finished, and the main floor bathroom is demolished... a lot to do there still!


Meanwhile, Huz and Middlest have been to Disney and back with the marching band where they were featured in a parade, and I have spent many hours in the barn- the cold, cold barn- doctoring the hind limbs of Middlest's horse. The week after we lost Pearl, Middlest discovered Chanelle in the early morning, in my horse's stall, with much damage inflicted to her right hind in particular and the gate with which she had tangled on the other side of the paddock. What exactly happened, we'll never know. What we do know is what came next; another early morning call to our Horsevet Hero, Dr. Peter Meuse. I worked on getting her cleaned up and ready to be fixed, but it became apparent it was not going to be an easy job. The first day he sewed up the wound near her tarso-crural joint; at the middle front of her hock, and we injected it with antibiotics, in case the joint capsule was compromised, but the swelling was too great to fix the largest wound down the front inside of her cannon bone. Amazingly, she had missed all the major tendons there and after some wrapping work to get the swelling down, he came back out on a Friday night to close the bigger wound. Just for perspective, I was working too that evening, and arrived home after 10:30 pm to Dr. Meuse still in the barn. Poor guy! But, with diligent care, the sutures came out a few days ago, and now we are working on other issues to see where we get with her rehab. She needs to regrow a lot of skin!  Amazingly, after day 1, she never seemed lame. Thoroughbreds.


And, this past weekend, I was feeling brave enough to leave her in Dr. Meuse and Huz's care and drive my champion children to West Virginia to compete in the Tri-State Region of the United States Pony Club Quiz Competition. This is Middlest's third year competing in Quiz, and Youngest's first Pony Club Competition. It is like "College Bowl" about horses, and a practical examination all rolled into one. It is 12 hours of Pony Club horse questions and hands on knowledge about the sport of horses, and the only Pony Club competition to which you don't bring an actual horse. 
At the end of the day I had two of the top 12 scorers in the entire competition in my family, and 4 of the top 12 in my car. 8 of 9 of our Hunters Run Pony Club competitors qualified to compete in the National Pony Club Championships in Kentucky this summer. That would be 8 of 12 in the region. When I say these kids are good, I mean they're fantastic.

Perfect Plaits: The team gets up early to make sure braids are done just alike- Youngest was spared as the only boy!

The Ladies, and Gent of Team HRPC!

Our Senior D team placed second by a hair. That's Middlest second from the left.

And our scramble team with HRPC and BPC of Junior D's placed second as well!  Youngest is the fella.

My handsome Youngest, beams with pride. He was a high point scorer.

Our 3-man team of Senior C's killed it! They were first by a mile.

But, our Junior D team was the third place team score overall ( 25 teams).

And one of our own, K. Z. had the second highest score of all competitors for the day. (For the second year in a row- YOWZA!)

 

 

 

I am so proud of my Pony Clubbin' kids!

Practically Perfect Pearl at Peace.

February is "supposed" to be relaxing. A month to recharge your batteries for the onslaught of spring and the work it brings to the farm.
Somehow that ideal is too idyllic to be realistic. February is a busy month. True, not so busy farm-wise, although the bitter cold of this winter has added challenges to the daily chore routine. Both our big water troughs have burst their seams with ice, making them purely decorative. And we've had to be vigilant about making sure there is adequate warmth for the critters- although the sheep don't seem to be bothered by even the nastiest of negative temps and wind. How do you tell when sheep are bothered? I'm not sure. They tend to be a bit black and white in the "alive= fine" , "dead= not". Category. No one has died, and they seem awfully content.
We have two late February birthdays in the family with both Youngest and Eldest marking off another year.
 I had a mind expanding few days at the Midwest Veterinary Conference, being schooled in everything from dermatology and cat behaviors to traditional Chinese herbal and energy healing.
  We got iced in one day, much to Huz' chagrin. His little Jetta wasn't equal to the task of driving on 2" of ice pack. The sun came out and gave us a huge assist, followed by a few hours spent chunking up ice with shovels, and the truck for a tow, we made it out the next day.

 The sun was a huge boost for our spirits, and one fine Saturday, I came home from work and suggested to the kids we get Pearl out for a bareback jaunt around Cowfeathers. Pearl is the perfect candidate for the first ride of spring, as she is the least likely to get out of hand and cause strife. Or, so I thought until I was pulling off her blanket and for whatever reason (static electricity, nervous energy, hormones, funsies) Pearl kicked me- HARD- in the left thigh. That earned me a top 3 contender in the "Worst Bruises of my Life" contest, knocking the bruise from the Great Dairy Cow Poop Skiing Incident of 1989 out of the bronze position in the medals. And, it made sure I couldn't be the rider. I did get Middlest up there to give Pearlie a go, and make sure she was feeling sane enough for Youngest to have a turn. I hung around as long as possible to watch them both ride, as my thigh grew and bled under the skin, hot and painful. I wanted them to ride, but I needed lots of ice, epsom salts and arnica!  Demonstrating where my kids get their resilience, I then decided to snap a few pictures, it was so pretty outside!

What I didn't know at the time was these would be the last pictures we have of Pearl.

Last Thursday saw me in the ER for my first- hopefully last- bout with kidney stones. So far, Kidney Stones: 1, Me: 0. The final bell has not rung, but I got K.O.'d in the second round, and decided a hospital bed and IV pain medication were pretty helpful. So, while I laid next to my ornery fluids machine, mashing buttons every ten minutes when it went to beeping, at home, Pearl was feeling bad.
At 5:40 am when Middlest went up to feed the animals, she knew right away Pearl was in trouble, and started working on her. Soon, Youngest noticed Middlest was missing and found her with Pearl outside in the driveway, trying to keep Pearl from going down. Huz, Middlest, Dr. Peter Meuse of Bella Vista Equine Veterinary Services and dear, dear friends stepped in to try and save the pony, transporting her to Ohio State Veterinary Medical's Galbreath Equine Center for surgery. Before noon, our Practically Perfect Pearl was gone. We elected to euthanize her in surgery because of a strangulating lipoma (fatty mass) that had cut off the blood supply to much of her small intestine. The prognosis was non-recoverable.
My sobbing, soggy self wanted to go home.
The nurses at the hospital, with great sympathy, moved quickly to get my discharge done so I could head home to grieve with my family. Thankfully the stubborn stone, although not ready to move on, had subsided in the bulk of it's pain, and allowed me to try the waiting game at home.
Pearl's stall is empty.
But, our hearts are still full. We are held up by the love of our friends and family who have been amazingly supportive. So many kindnesses, great and small.
I found myself wondering why.  I couldn't remember ever doing anything generous or kind for anyone. It's an odd place that shock, pain meds and sadness puts you in... and although I knew I must have done something for someone sometime, I truly couldn't come up with an example. Then, I found a sweet place, where I realized it didn't matter. Our friends were giving to us because they wanted to, and it isn't about keeping score. It is about accepting the words, and the love and allowing them to help you stay afloat. Joy, from sadness.