MIA

I have been unable to post or participate in the blog world for about the last 2 weeks. Have been suffering from bronchitis again, and to top it off, have been having to work overtime at my job. I have some stories to share about Divna and the trailer, Zora and the mud, Divna and the vaccines, and some other stuff.

We are going riding this afternoon (in about 5 minutes), so I am sure I will have something else to relate.

I'll be reading every one else's blogs soon and catching up. I could also use a couple of new blogs to read, since some of the ones I have been following and enjoying over the last year have sadly dropped out. Any suggestions??

Talk to all of y'all soon!!!

Trailer Incident

I had a "trailer incident" with Divna the other day. Really surprising because both of our horses have always loaded and unloaded with no problem. Perhaps this was because of the cows...

A friend of ours decided to get a couple of cows to raise for food (I could never do that -- I would end up naming the cows and not wanting to butcher them. Our chickens are getting older and the egg production is not what it used to be -- people tell us to make soup out of them, but I just can't do it. I would be a vegetarian if I had to kill my own meat). They were young animals, about 500 pounds each, so he borrowed our horse trailer to transport them to his house.

On Sunday we decided to take The Girls down to Bluhm County Park to ride the trails, and we have to trailer them there now because someone bought the last section of abandoned railroad line and blocked it off so we can no longer ride there (sob!!). We got them both in the trailer, John went in the house to set the alarm and I was in the barn grabbing some last minute item I forgot to pack. I heard a lot of ruckus outside and ran out there, and The Girls were bouncing around in the back of the trailer. They have never done that before....I went up and started talking to them and got them calmed down, but it was really strange. I couldn't really tell what was going on, but it was almost like Divna was crowding Zora, and Zora was trying to keep her away.

We went to the park and just had a really nice ride. There were these beautiful flowers in bloom all over the place -- they were big white flowers growing off of this broad leafed 3-leaved plant that grows very close to the ground. (My friend Dee told me what they were called, but I can't remember what she said -- "Tremblis" or something like that ???) I usually take my camera on trail rides, but did not have it that day -- I was kicking myself for that. The pictures would have been beautiful (the picture above of me and Divna by the trailer is one from a couple of summers ago at Potato Creek State Park -- I just wanted a picture for the post, so I cheated!).

When we would ride the abandoned railroad line all the way to Bluhm County Park we would not go on all of the trails. The ride down there is about 5 miles, so we would always just ride the periphery trails and then head back. We have only ridden the main trails all thru the park a couple of times, and that has been years ago. It is not a park for winter riding -- the trails are just mainly switchbacks. In the winter when the leaves are all gone you can see the trail snaking around and it just doesn't seem to make much sense (it could make you "horse sick" like someone I know from the blogs -- Desert Rose, perhaps???). But when it is leafy, it is a neat ride partly because of the switchbacks and partly because it is pretty hilly for Northwest Indiana. But it was just a really challenging and enjoyable ride. We all loved it.

Then when we went to load The Girls to go home, I made the classic mistake of being too casual about everything. I am so used to Divna loading with no problem, that I walked in, tied the lead rope and turned around to leave the trailer. When I did, I saw that she only had her front feet in the trailer -- her back legs and back end were still outside. So I pushed on her rear end to get her to step in. She was having none of it. She started to pull back. I realized I needed to release that rope, but she had pulled it so tight that I could not get it undone, even though it was a quick release knot. So John jumped in and pulled it loose.

Divna was nerved up, so I walked her a bit around the parking lot to calm her down. It took some coaxing to get her to load. It sort of scared me -- I was afraid she would break her own neck struggling against that lead rope.

John is wondering if they could smell the cows and that is what was causing them to act up this time. I hope I don't have a problem with loading her in the future.

Grooming Sessions - First Dunes Ride of 2010

Every critter we have is shedding (except the chickens). If I could ball all the hair up together, it would probably be the size of a small planet.


We have spent more time currying, brushing and combing lately. The last two Friday nights we even made it our evening entertainment. We go out to the barn with some beers, rakija and Serbian music and give everybody a thorough grooming. Then we spoil them with carrots and Vanilla Wafers (our goats are crazy about Vanilla Wafers).




You can see all the horse hair in the curry comb here. I use the shaving brush on Divna's eye socket. It gets pretty dusty in there, so I brush it out for her as part of the grooming ritual.



Zora is so sweet (that is, until you try to ride her -- then she turns into a crazy rocket!). When John grooms her, she can't wait for the chance to rest her big head on his shoulder. I think she is in love with him.

We went for our first ride in the Indiana Dunes last weekend. It is closed to horses during the Winter so the cross country skiiers can use it. It was a pretty day -- a bit chilly, but that was OK. The trails looked so different than they did the in the Fall, when we were there last. Also, last Spring the trails were underwater the first time we went back for the season. Not this time -- there was some water, but it was not flooded. But the Dunes are coming to life right now, and it was really pretty. We are so fortunate to have this great riding place so close to home.


Along the trail there are little bridges because there are creeks and wet spots in the Dunes. At one bridge, there was a huge mud pit on the trail at the end of the bridge. Zora and John were in the lead, and Zora was having no part of going thru that mud. We were not going to turn around and go back (the trails are supposed to be ridden one-way only), and besides, the bridge is so narrow that I don't believe turning around is even possible.


So there we stood. John coaxed, kicked, smacked her rump -- every thing he could think of. No way was she going thru that mud. She is such a goofball, and comes up with some of the craziest stuff sometimes. At one point she actually started to kneel down! I think she was just overwhelmed over the prospect of walking through that mud, and didn't know what else to do!

After what seemed like 10 minutes, John finally had to get off and pull her across.


Divna went thru it like a champ!! I loved it......It's not often I can "one-up" him on the trail. It was finally my turn!

Expensive Goat

A few years ago, we got ripped off on E-Bay. We bought a horse trailer thru an authorized dealer (Stephen Lewis, USA Cowboy) for Delta Horse Tailers out of Arkansas, which were being sold on E-Bay. It was a "Buy It Now" transaction, not an auction. It is a long story, and one for another post, but the end result was that we paid $3,500 for a horse trailer that we never got. We filed police reports in Indiana and Oklahoma, and contacted the FBI for internet fraud. We filed complaints with the Attorneys General in Indiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma (where USA Cowboy was located); went to small claims court in Indiana and Arkansas, and all we got was our $600 deposit back from Delta Trailers. We ended up talking to two other victims of Stephen Lewis, one of which told us he went to court in Oklahoma and was was told that he would have to wait in a long line -- there were a lot of folks out there trying to get justice from dealings with Stephen Lewis, USA Cowboy.


Then, about 2 years after we were robbed by this guy, out of the clear blue sky, the Attorney General of Oklahoma called us to say they were about to arrest him, and asked if we had any documentation of our dealings with him. They were building a case, and needed as much evidence as they could get. Well, as it turns out, we did have a file -- a rather thick one, and I copied the entire thing and sent it off to Oklahoma.



Yesterday, I went to the mailbox, and there was a letter there from the Oklahoma Attorney General. I was really excited, believing this would be some sort of news on this thieving creep that ripped us off. I did not open it -- I held off, wanting to open it with John so we could both read it together.



John was out in the pasture with the goats and horses, cutting up a tree that had fallen late last year. I went out to him with the envelope....I opened it, and pulled the letter out. Just as I did that, our white goat, Misho, jumped up and took a huge bite out of the letter!! It happened so fast! I unfolded the partially eaten letter, and my eyes fell on the phrase

"...the enclosed check...."

My heart jumped....I realized I was holding two pieces of paper.... I looked at the second page of the letter, and sure enough, it was a check!!! Only now it was missing the bottom right section...I said "John, this is a check!!!" We both looked at Misho, and he was just standing there, chewing away on our restitution check. There was no way to get it back to piece it back together -- it was gone forever, down the goat's gullet!



Once we recovered from our disbelief and shock, we laughed for about 10 minutes........

So now we have to write to the Attorney General of Oklahoma, return the partially eaten check, and request it to be reissued! I am going to send him these photos as proof...

And yes, Misho is still alive...John did not kill him. I keep telling Misho he owes us money...............

Lost Our Trail

Well, we have definitely lost the last portion of the abandoned railroad line that connects us to the horseback riding park. John finally made it to the county courthouse to do some research. With internet and GPS and all this great technology, he was able to go online and find that someone did, in fact, buy that stretch of the abandoned rail line. We wrote to the owner, asking for permission to ride to the park, promising a hold-harmless for any injuries, and gave our word that we would not litter or cause a problem. As of yet we have no response from them, so we are operating und the belief that "no news is bad news" in this case.

It seems the only thing we can do now is contact the property owners on the other side of that stretch of line and ask if we can cut a narrow path through their parcels parallel to the railroad line. I believe there are about four different owners we would have to ask. Could be a long shot....

We rode down there on Sunday, and there is still a big tree across the entrance to that part of the railroad line. Looking down the line, we also see large boulders across the path as well. So it looks like things are changing.

Since we could not ride that part of the railroad line, we did something different. We rode down the street (which I do not like doing) and went to an area where there are some apartments for the Purdue North Central students and some new homes being built. It is really pretty there with ponds and bridges and beautiful grass. So we rode around there a bit and then came home.

I've got to compose a really nice letter to those property owners by the railroad line. Maybe I will include some pictures of our horses......

Maybe we should offer to pay them??? But with us being in real estate, there is not a lot of money to go around. Any suggestions???

Good Friday - Velika Petak

This has been one hell of a week. It is Holy Week, and Passover Week, and Stress Week - in terms of work and family. John's mother broke her hip on Monday, and for some inexplicable reason work has been unusually challenging....a perfect storm of family and professional trauma.

Today was Good Friday for those of us following the Orthodox Faith ("Velika Petak" in Serbian), which this year, coincides with Catholic/Protestant Good Friday. Usually, we are a week or two or more behind...but because of the way the full moon and Jewish Passover fell this year, we are on the same "Holy Week" Schedule. Very unusual. It will be that way next year as well. I do not like when it falls at the same time, because I like to buy Easter candy at a discount. Most years Orthodox Easter is later than the Catholic/Protestant Easter, and all the Easter candy is at least 50% off. I go to the local Fannie Mae store and clean up.

So, today was Velika Petak...we went to the hospital to see John's mother (who looked so worn out from PT) and then to the Church for a fish dinner, which they did not have on Good Friday, which they have on almost very other Friday of the year, but not tonight which makes no sense at all because if you are going to serve a fish dinner, the one day of the year when it makes perfect sense to do so is on GOOD FRIDAY...

Anyway......we went to our Kumovi/Friends' house, after stopping for fish and ajvar and other fasting-appropriate foods to share with them. We had a few drinks there, and a really nice time.


Then we came home. John fell asleep (he has been under a lot of stress lately) and I went out to feed/spoil our animals.

It is unseasonably warm in Northwest Indiana right now. It has been about 80 degrees in the daytime -- the normal is about 50 or 60 degrees.

So I am outside, giving treats to the goats and horses, spoiling them with extra hay, and I notice The Girls are really shedding. So I decided to curry them. It is amazing how much hair comes off of them this time of year. We have had these horses living with us for a decade now, and it is always shocking how much hair they lose every Spring. I got the curry comb out and started in on them. It was such a special experience -- dead of night (around midnight), no one around, just me and the animals.

I curried away, and got off enough hair to make a blanket. Time wore on....Divna decided she was ready to sleep, and she walked far downfield.

The moon was out....the temperature was comfortable. I followed her. She was standing beneath the evergreen tree. I walked up and stroked her mane. Then, I laid on the ground a few feet from her. She turned, walked over to me, and ran her muzzle over my feet and lower legs, then stood beside me. I looked up at the stars, listened to the frogs croaking, felt the cold ground beneath me and the warm air above me. It was wonderful. I could see Divna's strong profile in the moonlight. She was beautiful, the night was beautiful, the spiritual significance of the week was powerful.....

I was aware of the fact that if I continued to lay there, that it would most likely be where I was "found".....the ground was cold, and it is still early April in the Midwest. I believe they call it "exposure." It was tempting....looking up at the stars....looking at my strong, beautiful horse in the moonlight..........................................realizing everything could be over in a few hours....

But I got up, came in the house, looked at my wonderful, loving, sleeping husband, and then wrote the most honest post I have ever written.

It is Easter and Passover. The Golden Rule applies. Bless all of you...

Grooming Session - Smoking Goat

We did not ride this weekend. After the last ride, we felt it would be best for John to let his shoulder heal up a bit more before we got back on the trail. With this being the shedding season, we decided to do some grooming instead.

What a mess! The Girls are losing enough hair to make another animal. They have been rolling around in the mud, and have all manner of straw, sticks, and leaves in their tails. It was quite the job getting them cleaned up, but we finally did. And then as soon as we let them out, Divna promptly rolled again!! After getting all spruced up, Zora tried on John's hat!

We tacked the task of trimming goat hooves, and attempted to curry them as they are shedding as well. Of course we cannot do this without proper "fortification" (beer, rakija, and a cigar for John).We discovered that they absolutely love John's cigars! Especially Misho....

John also took the time to write a new post for his blog -- check it out at www.theotisrules.blogspot.com It really is funny, and you have to have a sense of humor when reading his posts and not take them personally.....

READER WARNING: Those who are easily offended by adult "blue" language read with caution!!

(It is pretty strange given the subject matter of this blog -- he posted it a few days ago, and then yesterday his mother fell and broke her hip!)