The Fixer Upper Farm, Dallas the Rescue Pony, and The King of All He Surveys
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2017 2:03 am
Reno and projects continue all around The Fixer Upper Farm with nice progress. In the last 8 months we: finally solved an ongoing water issue in Dallas' stall in The Little Red Barn, releveled the stalls, finished fencing the third of the three pastures, put up an amazing and unexpected amount of hay from our hay fields in the Spring cutting, got a great work horse of a four-wheeler as a sub for a tractor that has been working out great, built/filled/planted the raised veggie garden, tamed a bunch more out of control trees that needed love/understanding/major haircuts, reframed two sections of Dallas' stall that will allow continued progress on the reno of TLRB, trimmed up/pressure washed/stained the privacy dog fence in the really big back yard, pressure washed and sealed the deck, replaced the old white aluminum columns on the front porch with solid cedar posts, expanded the jug handle in the driveway, installed window treatments in the naked-for-a-year-and-a-half house, built a ramp for the dogs, and I think that may be all on that front. Somehow DH and I also pulled off full time jobs, and handled some really involved medical dilemmas with one of our dogs that has demanded pretty much constant analysis and adjustment over the last two months.
I can't remember the last time I rode Fergus, but every day I carve out even a few minutes to work on groundwork or stretching or clicker training with both boys. I have also been dedicated to regular bodywork for both of them, and some of the emotional/mental/physical things I have seen with Dallas are mind-blowing. This is the horse who tried to run over "strangers" who entered his pasture on a few occasions when he first arrived, bolted a handful of times while grazing for no apparent reason---like the devil himself was on his heels---and ran to the point of being a blowing, drenched mess before it was safe to interact with him, was pretty close to head shy, had real issues with picking up his feet and was too animated with his back feet for polite company, had no faith in allowing people to move freely about his body, and was the craftiest user of a strong and short neck that I have ever met. I could type for hours giving examples of the progress, but I will just summarize and say it's huge. He is insanely smart, incredibly curious, and has come to really enjoy interacting and learning. We have had several occasions where had these things happened when I first met him I would've been flattened, yet ended up with him being as self-controlled and aware of me as ol' Fergus who I have had for almost 18 years. Not saying we don't have tons more to do, but I really do have a different pony than the one I brought home from the rescue 16 months ago. For fun I did a DNA test when I did the HYPP test due to obvious QH blood. Let's see who reads to the end to get the answers.
Somehow my two year old turned 20 years old last month. If you met him you'd see it instantly...he just knows he is special and never doubts that everyone else should see it too. He is just too much, the best, and indescribable all at the same time. Although I hate that I haven't fit in riding time for Fergus in a loooong time, I enjoy every second of having him at home with me. And it's been great seeing him so happy again with the consistency and the horse-first set up that moving home brought with it. Here are some photos from his foggy birthday morning, nothing fancy, just the iPad.
And it seems I have reached my max for photos in this entry, so to be continued below....
I can't remember the last time I rode Fergus, but every day I carve out even a few minutes to work on groundwork or stretching or clicker training with both boys. I have also been dedicated to regular bodywork for both of them, and some of the emotional/mental/physical things I have seen with Dallas are mind-blowing. This is the horse who tried to run over "strangers" who entered his pasture on a few occasions when he first arrived, bolted a handful of times while grazing for no apparent reason---like the devil himself was on his heels---and ran to the point of being a blowing, drenched mess before it was safe to interact with him, was pretty close to head shy, had real issues with picking up his feet and was too animated with his back feet for polite company, had no faith in allowing people to move freely about his body, and was the craftiest user of a strong and short neck that I have ever met. I could type for hours giving examples of the progress, but I will just summarize and say it's huge. He is insanely smart, incredibly curious, and has come to really enjoy interacting and learning. We have had several occasions where had these things happened when I first met him I would've been flattened, yet ended up with him being as self-controlled and aware of me as ol' Fergus who I have had for almost 18 years. Not saying we don't have tons more to do, but I really do have a different pony than the one I brought home from the rescue 16 months ago. For fun I did a DNA test when I did the HYPP test due to obvious QH blood. Let's see who reads to the end to get the answers.
Somehow my two year old turned 20 years old last month. If you met him you'd see it instantly...he just knows he is special and never doubts that everyone else should see it too. He is just too much, the best, and indescribable all at the same time. Although I hate that I haven't fit in riding time for Fergus in a loooong time, I enjoy every second of having him at home with me. And it's been great seeing him so happy again with the consistency and the horse-first set up that moving home brought with it. Here are some photos from his foggy birthday morning, nothing fancy, just the iPad.
And it seems I have reached my max for photos in this entry, so to be continued below....