New addition sort of

My nephew Christopher is getting his first pony! I had a hand in getting it for him by telling my sister about this mare at the vet clinic that was up for sale for the cost of the vet bill. She was a bit dehydrated and had not had her feet trimmed in like 8 months and was basically a case of owner neglect. But she's not in excessively bad shape just needs a hoof trim and a few good groceries.

She's coming to stay at my house temporarily until my sisters friend gets a stall ready. I'm going to pick her up from the vet on Wednesday and bring her here, then next weekend Christopher and my sister are going to try and come over for a short ride.

Topper Update

Well as much as I complain about " The Money Pit" being accident prone, she's never done something like this!!

 

This horse is named Amigo and he's still alive and being treated for his injuries. The Equestrian Vagabond  posted all about Amigo's accident and his struggles to recover. His owner has gone to great expenses to help this brave horse survive.  If you have a desire to donate a bit to help pay his vet bills, The Equestrian Vagabond  has all the details in the post. 

I don't think I'll complain to much about Topper's injuries as much any more.. And on that note, her latest injury is healing up very well. If it was not so muddy and snowy here this week, I'd almost be ready to take off the bandage and let it finish healing on it's own. But even in her  new location, they have quite a bit of mud and muck and it shouldn't be that dirty yet.  So at least she's doing very well. 

The rest of the horses are shedding like it's already summer. Just touching Baby Girl results in large clumps of loose hair. We still have up to a foot of snow on the ground and these critters are dropping hair like it's hot outside. 

Another Snow day

Today has been a horrible blustery snow day, so I've been working on knit and crochet projects. I finally found a neat hat pattern to  make a matching hat for the scarf I made earlier on the Knifty Knitter. So now I have a matching set. The pattern in the hat does not show up as well with this fluffy yarn, but it's enough to show a little and make a nice hat.

I also finished crocheting a new hat for myself. I really like that little brim because it works so well to keep the rain and snow off my glasses. I've been wearing it when I go out in the snow to re-wrap Topper's  leg. She is doing much better and that wound should heal up well.

I also finished off a crochet dish cloth. This is a really pretty yarn called Gumdrops from Peaches and Cream. I picked it up on sale at the Wal-Mart for .75 cents per skein. There were just a few skeins on sale and in this color there were only two available. I got both and I'll be making a matching pot holder to go along with the dish cloth.

I also finished off a few of the other projects I was working on in my last post about my crochet.  The pink and purple triangle shawl is finished and will be the right size for a young girl.

I also made a really nice stew today. It was a quick, easy and hearty meal for such a nasty day.  I added in dehydrated sweet peas from last summers garden along with an onion, a can of mushrooms, a couple russet potatos, a bag of frozen carrots and one sweet potato, one can of beef broth and two cans of water and the mushroom can full of lentils. With all that stuff I did add a tiny bit of beef but not much as I'm trying to get Keith to eat healthier without so much meat.

A horse turd by any other name is still a horse turd

You may have heard people celebrating lately that NAIS (National Animal ID System) has been dropped by the USDA.  People are happy that there will not be an NAIS System. Unfortunately all the USDA did was change the name to Animal Disease Traceablity Network (ADTN). The USDA states that they have put to much tax payer money into the program to scrap it completely so they are renaming it and keep going on in the same manner. They spent 142 Million dollars on a program that was hated and opposed by horse owners and livestock ranchers all across the country. They can't let that money go to waste even though the money they wasted was on a totally unconstitutional program that violated MULTIPLE constitutional rights of US citizens. 

As an article in the Texas Farm Bureau shows here they intend to keep portions of the old NAIS. 

"Using some of the elements from the existing NAIS system is crucial, USDA reported in its question and answer compilation about the new traceability program.

"Considering the significant investment of taxpayer money, it would be irresponsible to completely disregard all elements of NAIS," Edgar said."

 

They continue to force register individuals into the programs. All horse owners who got coggins test for your horse within the last year were AUTOMATICALLY registered into NAIS maybe even with out your knowledge or approval.  Remember NAIS was a VOLUNTARY program and yet individuals have been force registered for years. The State of Idaho force registered all ranchers and cattlemen who renewed their brand applications.

Horse owners don't think you will get out of this new program. The new approach is directed at interstate commerce. That means if you sell a horse across the state lines you would be required to be linked into the new system. There is also speculation that interstate commerce could be interpreted as horse shows, horse racing, and competitions designed to increase the value of your horse for breeding or sales purposes. That means any competitions that you enter outside of your home state could lead to you being enrolled in the new ADTN. If you own a stallion and ship semen for breeding you are conducting interstate commerce and as such could be subjected to the new ADTN. 

For more information on the new program see the following links

USDA 

Medical News 

Environment News 

The Horse

Pig Progress 

California Farm Bureau 

Food Safety News

A neat giveaway! and other news

Adventures in Self Reliance Blog has a neat give away for a fire starter. I love these kinds of things because I'm out in the nearby National Forest a lot on my rides. These fire starters are great to have in case you get stuck or a little off course and need to stay out over night. They are easier to carry then matches and you don't have to worry about a fire starter getting wet like the matches.

Adventures Blog is full of other great articles and information so drop by over there and check it out.

In other news, Topper's cut is doing well. I've ordered some special wraps for her and I'm getting a hoof boot to cover the whole deal. Still trying to keep the wound clean and dry so that it doesn't get infected. 

It appears that I've so far successfully been able to keep what ever critter away from the chicken pen. I haven't had another dead chicken since Saturday. 

I'm FINALLY able to see bare dirt!!!! We still have a lot of snow, but I see bare ground and I'm really happy about that. Unfortunately the weeks weather forecast includes another chance for snow this weekend. GRRR!!! I really can't wait for spring so I can start working in the garden. I still have almost a foot of snow in the garden, so I'm only still in the planning stages for the year.

The Equine Vet Kit

At my house a little bitty equine vet kit like this one just doesn't work. There is just not enough stuff in it for my horses needs. And if you have a horse like my Money Pit, you really need a big one.

I built up my own vet kit. first I went to Home Depot and got this really cool rolling tool box.

And then I stuffed it full of the majorly important stuff needed for a horse wound emergency. Unfortunately this tool box as big as it is, still isn't big enough for ALL the equine leg wraps, hock wraps, and knee wraps. Those all have a box of their own. This still has one package of roll cotton. 

Several rolls of roll gauze.

 

Tons of Vet wrap

 

Betadine Scrub

 

Gauze pads

And a bunch of other topical  ointments and wound care treatments. 

Then the neat thing about this tool box is the upper level, where I've put  things like bandage sissors

and Duct Tape, contractor grade tape is the best for wrapping hooves.

 

A hoof pick or two as well as some hoof knives.

 a flashlight

and clippers to shave around wounds

Then in the lit there are a couple really small compartments that are perfect for a second small flashlight with extra batteries and needles and syringes. 

So whats in your vet kit?

A Fox in the Hen House

At least that's what we think has been getting into the chicken pen. Thursday night I came home to 4 dead chickens all piled up in one corner of the chicken pen. One chicken was stuck in the fence where the offending creature had tried to pull it through the fence and failed. I didn't have time to fix the fence since it was already late and dark and Friday was another work day. Friday I didn't have time to fix the fence because we were dealing with Topper's injury, finding her a clean dry spot to stay and things like that.  So Saturday morning we wake up to find one more dead chicken in the same spot. So after driving to town to see the vet and getting hay, we went to the Home Depot and  got more chicken wire to fix the fence. 

At least the weather has been nice and the snow is really starting to melt. I can finally see bare patches of ground. It was nice and warm while I was out fixing the fence. I sure hope it stays that way for a while longer. Since our chicken killer doesn't come back every day, we will have to wait and see how well the fixed fence holds up to hungry creatures.

The horses came over to investigate what I was doing in the chicken pen since it borders the horse pasture. There are three kinds of horses when it comes to working in or near the pasture or barns.

1. The lookie-loos are the ones who come over look around and leave and go back to eating, sleeping or playing. Shy Monster falls into that category. She comes, she looks, she goes back to see what food everyone else left behind.

2. The inspectors come over look and test your work and make sure it's tight enough. Bug is the inspector of our herd. She comes over, flips the fence around a bit, nods her head in approval and leaves.

3. The assistant is the one who thinks you need help even if you don't. Help includes blowing in your face so that your glasses fog up, or sticking her nose in the area you are trying to pull a wire through the fence to tie it up, blowing in your ear to help keep you warm or any other number of helping duties. Baby Girl and Booger Butt are the helpers in this crowd.

The Money Pit is injured AGAIN

Yes that is her, and no she's not dead, dying or extremely seriously injured. She's just rolling in the snow. This happens just about every time that it's going to be nice or we want to ride. She finds more ways to get hurt than any other horse I've ever owned. We finally get a full week of predicted nice weather combined with a three day weekend and I come home to a hurt horse.

Judging by the next sets of photos you wouldn't even guess that she's injured.

 

But she sure is and it will require a trip to the vet this morning. She had managed to rip up her lower leg just above the coronet band. As you can see my pastures and pens are all full of snow and unfortunately where there is no snow there is mud.

I had to move her from the pasture to the round pen just to get her out of the mud. The good thing is that running and playing in the fresh pristine snow has cleaned the wound quite a bit. This was the best photo I got of the wound.  I had to shave her legs and clean her up in the snow. Then we moved her to a friends house to get her out of the snow and the mud. They still have a little bit of mud, but it's not nearly as bad as my house, and she has a stall that we can enclose her in if we need to. It looks like she's staying over there for several weeks until that heals up.

Don't Tax the Tortilla!!!

That is the big protest of the day here in New Mexico. Our State legislature is looking at repealing a law that prevents food items from being taxed. Items that may soon be taxed again include several New Mexico staple foods including white flour tortillas, salsa, chili pods and white rice.

The new bill in our legislature would only exempt from taxes the foods on the  Federal Womens, Infants, and Children food program (AKA WIC).  There was a big protest at the capitol today.  The legislature failed to pass a bill that would require large corporations that have stores in more than one state to pay their share of state taxes for the stores within the state and now they want to tax food again. In most states those large corporations are required to pay taxes on the income earned by the stores within that state, but not here in New Mexico.

According to the Legislature statement, the tax will be on NON-nutritional foods to help the residents of the State of New Mexico eat healthier. But included on the list of things that will be taxed include honey, yogart, potatos, and even nuts. That means our pecan and pistachio orchards will be taxed for selling their nuts. New Mexico is second only to Georgia in the production of pecans.

Watch out world, the tortilla war is coming. People in New Mexico are not happy tonight.

Don't Tax the Tortilla!!!!

Projects finished and still in progress

Two scarves finished. The blue and green one is my first finished project off the Knifty Knitter loom. I'm going to need a good hat pattern to go along with it so that I can use up the other skein of yarn and have a matching set. The multi-colored one is a crocheted ribbon yarn scarf.

 

Here are a couple of crochet coin purses and an eyeglass case made from some of the scrap yarns left over. The white and colored one was a combination of the ribbon yarns left over the the scarf and some white yarn left over from making my nephews Christmas blanket. The white and maroon one was the left over yarn from the hand warmers I made earlier. These are all finished except to find the right buttons to for each one.

My unfinished projects include a green boxed shell cape.  I've made this cape pattern before with a different yarn and liked it so much that I'm trying it again with this yarn. 

 

This triangle shawl is quite easy to make and I've just started it. I made a similar one out of different yarns for my sister for Christmas. This one I'm going to try and sell at the Arts and Crafts Fair in Town next winter. It still needs a few more rows to finish it off.

This purple and green item was intended to be a shawl or shrug. I'm a little worried that I'm running a bit short on yarn so I'll have to see. I do love the colors though and just may keep this one for myself.