Week Six - Jan 20th - Jan. 26th

You know, I've never been very involved with the phases of the moon, or astrology, but my friend Joannie Detlefsen has shown me credible evidence that there are things that can be explained and understood during phases and whether the planets have an effect on our circumstances. Certainly Friday the 23rd was solid evidence of this. Harry has never been so out of sorts. A quiet and kind horse, his mood changed so dramatically that I probably would have been better off not having taken him to the farrier, but I did.

Mercury is in retrograde. The Universe is dishing out new ideas. This is the time when it affects Transportation AND Communication. (remember the flub up during the Inauguration?). I'm sure the astrologers around the world had a good chuckle over that.

Today (Jan. 26th), we are having a solar eclipse, and we are going into the crescent moon, and things will start to solidify. By Saturday (my new date for my trip to So. Pines), things will be less chaotic. The power of our success will come with the new moon, and for the next two weeks be flowing towards the full moon. By the time I leave here (around the 7th or so), I should be in a safe, healthy and good place.

Is this really the state of things? Certainly the photos I took of those horrid storm clouds made an impression on me to take them, and had I investigated further, would have known that the 16th would have been a health disaster for me. For whatever reason, I may not be totally entrenched in astrology or understand it as thoroughly as I'd like, but I certainly will not rule it out.

THANK YOU JOAN!!!



Tues. 20th, day off - making plans to go to So. Pines, NC for job interview.

Wed. 21st - 5 hours, preg. mare down to main barn.
clear boarders stall so BL can install hemp base in there which is all rippled and damp.

Thurs. 22nd - 6 hours, turn out cleaned all stalls, Mare's paddock took one hour to clean.

Frid. 23rd - 4 hours. Farrier appt. insisted upon 2 new shoes one size larger. never mentioned in 3 calls that there would be a discount for cash of substantial amount. Harry very scared and nervous, too much electricity and trash and discord at place. Harry got called pig several times and elbowed in the ribs two times. Refused to reset back shoes. Said his back hurt, Admonished for not having full set of x-rays for Harry, Thinks Harry is still foundered. Ended up with flat keg shoes, no bevel, no crease, no rims, one size larger,

Sat. 24th called Zach and Ursula. 4.5 hours, cleaned paddock and stalls raked, 4 bales, very windy and cold again after so warm Friday.

Sunday. 25th 4 hours, horses in at night no hay in upper barn, used mare's. BL late to bring in horses and everyone was racing around.

Mon. 26th - 4 hours. Vet here. Horses were frantic because BL started moving horses all around to different barns. All horses in over night at 34 deg. (Sat. night it was 19 and they were out). Water, hay feed, turn out upper barn, hay door open, exposed and disconnected ground wire inside pasture of morgans, with top board off and nails showing. Dandy finally had supplements after 3 days 0 them. Rat droppings in both feed rooms.

Week Five - Jan 13th-Jan. 19th.

Tues off-Made bracelet for one of the boarders. Her 46th birthday. Chose colors of her horse. She loved it and it fit! My first opportunity since here to make anything.

Wed 14th - 4 hours. 3 stalls hay feed frozen water hoses spigots, took ind. buckets to all horses with mixed water. Sky was roiling and red at evening. bad clouds, very stormy in sky.

Thurs. 15th - Intense headache made it through 4 hours of work, but sometimes having to sit, dizzy, pain in head and eyes, slept from 11:30 6to 4:00 then 8pm to 5am

Fri. 16th - 5.5 hours feel great frozen cleaned buckets and tubs and emptied ice. still no feed for boarders horses at upper barn.

Sat. 17th - 5.5 hours, no feed for boarders horses, frozen buckets because they were not emptied at night with horses in. ind. waters to lower barn, 4 degrees, brought Harry in at 2 to go get hay up state. BL feeds another feed instead.

Sun. 18th - 5 hours, water to lower ind. buckets, upper barn frozen buckets again. BL terrorizes 8 mo. old filly with checkered blanket by throwing it and cackling at her because she's attacking it, slamming with her front feet. screaming and kneeling on it and ripping it. all horses get upset and start running around in fear. 32 degrees windy. Horses in at night.

Mon. 19th - 4 hours. Gave lesson to boarder. Given no notice for lesson. Lesson went well. BL and mother of student couldn't understand why student was not 'jumping'. Student's abilities limited to walk/trot. Came to lesson with Chambon and Grackle noseband. Yanks hands to stop. Has no idea about balance or using body and seat to ride. Only rides off hands. Horse inverted and stiff. At end of lesson horse was soft and through. Frozen buckets and water lines. Have to take water from bathroom to all paddocks and fields, BL takes large open tub and fills with house water and leaks it all over, rages over weather and wants everyone to leave again.

Week Four - Jan. 6th - Jan. 13th

Ultimatum Time- I've been given ONE MONTH to find another place to go. No notice, no reason, nothing.

I am certain that this is a direct result of my encouraging BL to sit down and think about where she wants to be 6 months or a year from now with her life, her farm, her horses, her business. In effect, I did give her some tools, some suggestions, permission - if you will- to figure this all out. She is so incredibly unhappy with so many things, and I am not in the business of counsel for her. These are decisions we all have to make on our own about our own particular situations.

Oh, friends can suggest, family can wheedle, we can whine, there will be as many answers as there are people that we ask for help, but at the end of the day, we all have to take responsibility for our own actions. We only have ourselves to point to if we've not made sound decisions. These types of decisions are not to be made quickly or without careful examination.

Tues. 6th day off
Wed. 7th - 4.5 hours. horses in day/night due to rain, was asked to move in one month to where? feed tubs open in lower feed room, replaced with garbage cans with tops. tops continuously left off, rat droppings so what's up with that? The day after the garbage cans were put in for 3 mornings, the tops were left off, exposing them to everything as if they were still using the blue ones.


Thurs. 8th - 5.5 hours. fed turn out lower and fed turnout upper hay cleaned 7 stalls 2 bags of shavings in Helmar's stall. upper barn, buckets all over stalls left filthy. main barn, syringes and wine glasses all over.
Friday. 9th - 4.5 hours. Still trying to digest my dismissal. Formulating a plan. work stalls, hay, clean 2 paddocks of hay and manure. JPP arrives to give me a great lesson on Harry.
Sat. 10th - 4.5 hours. PM work instead of AM because BL and friend going to banquet.
Sun. 11th - 4.5 hours. Talk with boarders by BL gives them news to move Feb. 1st.
Mon. 12th - 4 hours. 3 stalls hay feed 4 hours, all horses move tim/helmar back to original fields after Crazy Trainer worked them in 15 degree weather. Went to Surrey got 4 bales hay, ok not great

Week Three-Dec. 31st-Jan. 6th, 2009

Cannot understand normal thinking. BL losing rational thought.

Wed.31st - 5 hours. upper lower water tubs frozen solid. took out individual buckets - 2 for each horse with mixed warm water. No cat food, no supplements or feed for two horses, BL decided to just feed them another type of feed. Don't people realize that bad hay in cold weather doesn't keep horses healthy or warm? Discussion (I stayed out of this one) was that just feed more grain, hay doesn't keep them warm. Hay analysis came back for present mixed bales, not fit for horses. Vets said AG people wrong. Give MORE FEED - They get enough of what they need in their feed. (Just a thought, but this is ONLY IF THEY ARE GIVEN THE RECOMMENDED AMOUNT OF FEED FOLKS.) These horses get 1/4 to 1 scoop of feed 2 x a day, with most of them getting less than 1/2 scoop. The hay situation will not change.

Jan 1st - 5 hours. Normal day, stalls, frozen lines, trash everywhere, longe line and whips thrown all over arena, with chairs inside arena. What else is new. Doors open Upper barn, horses out but fence not on. stalls a mess.

Jan 2nd - 4 hours went to get hay. 300 lbs. $78. paid 24 cents / lb., but great gorgeous Timothy from Idaho.

Jan 3rd - 5.5 hours - another day in the trenches, two of the stalls I clean every day are just sopping wet every day. They honestly need to be stripped every day, or the horses left out, or mats put in stall. BL cannot grasp the fact that the hemp fabric on the floors actually HOLDS WATER AND URINE - not to mention bacteria, mold, making a bad situation even worse for one of the schoolmasters who is 22 and has a raging lung infection, expelling thick yellow gobs of mucus daily from his nose. I've stopped trying to make suggestions, it falls on deaf ears.

Jan 4th - Sunday - 5 hrs- Lower barn feed, hay turn out. Upper barn, 2 of boarders horses have no feed. no supplements. No numbers at upper barn for owners. Top board and post broken in pintos field.

Jan 5th - Monday -4.5 hours - Turn out hay feed. move more feed to upper barn, take off blankets, upper barn feed hay take off blankets rode Harry, cleaned 4 paddocks hay 2x.
Tues. 6th, off.