Camping with "The Girls" at Potato Creek

The forecast for the weekend was cool and overcast -- here in Northwest Indiana the weather can be brutal in August -- 90 degrees and humidity to match. So we decided to take advantage of this unusual break and take the horses camping. It may be one of the last chances we have to ride before the heat takes hold again. Last minute plans -- John had to scramble on Friday to get everything ready to leave as early as possible on Saturday.

Potato Creek is only about an hour away from our house. It is a really nice state park -- the horse camping area is great. There are nice clean showers and bathrooms, and the trails are good. Some of our state parks do not have shower facilities for horse campers, which really sucks...but Potato Creek takes care of the horse people.

When we got there on Saturday we set up camp and then took a ride. It had been a while since we had been on the trails, and it was nice and cool, so The Girls were pretty excited and wanted to run. There were not many riders out there late Saturday afternoon, so we let them lope quite a bit. It was great, as usual. Even though the trails are not very long, we always manage to get lost there. The map doesn't do us much good, and the signs labeling the trails are confusing -- maybe it is just us....But we enjoyed it.

It rained a little on us when we were making dinner, but nothing too bad. Dinner was great -- grilled a lot of our own fresh veggies from our garden. What is it about camping that makes the simplest food taste so good???

On Sunday we rode again, and it was a much calmer ride. The Girls were tired from the ride the day before, and I am sure they did not sleep much. Good thing they were calmer, because the trails were much more crowded on Sunday. We talked to a lot of other horse people, and saw some beautiful horses. We even saw one with an eye problem -- we stopped and talked to them for quite a while. They had noticed Divna's eye patch, so we traded horse eye stories.

So for a last-minute planned trip, it turned out pretty good. It was nice to spend time with the horses. I even had the time to comb out all the tangles from manes and tails, which is something I rarely get to do. Just a nice weekend...... Take a look at this photo -- this is the leg and boot of someone who rode a horse, and has the dirt to prove it!!!

Horse Show - Beach Day - Big Egg

Wow! It has been a long time since I posted anything. It has been crazy lately...there must be something strange going on, because all of a sudden there are all these health problems with people I know, and there have been some passing on lately. Very bizarre that it is all happening at once -- members of my family, friends' parents, co-workers. Just really sad.





The Midwestern Saddle Club had a show on Saturday, and being members, John and I were there working. John was Ring Steward -- a job he has really grown into. I was manning the arena gate, and I made a few mistakes...but thankfully the judge was good natured and forgiving. I have learned a lot in this saddle club about what it takes to pull a horse show together. It is really a lot of work, and it is not as easy as it looks.















It was pretty hot on Saturday, and it was REALLY hot on Sunday. We do not like to ride when it is 90 degrees -- we feel it is too hard on the horses. So instead of riding on Sunday, we went to the beach. We live about 10 miles from Lake Michigan, and Michigan City has a fabulous waterfront park. I took a photo of our "symbol" of the southern tip of the lake -- the lighthouse at Michigan Ciy. We have not been there in a couple of years. It is interesting how your life goes thru stages -- I spent most of my pre-horse life going to the beach. I even rented an apartment about 1/2 block from Lake Michigan when I was single. But now I spend more time in barns. It was strange going to the beach again. I even crammed my 53 year old and 20 pound overweight body into a swimsuit (frightening). We even went in the water!! If you know anything about the Great Lakes, they are fresh water which equals cold. During a hot summer, the lake will warm up to tolerable by August, but this year we have not exactly had a warm summer, let alone hot. So the water was, let's say, refreshing. But we went in, and it did the trick!! Cooled us off immediately....


I posted last month about our chicken who had a health problem, most likely due to laying large eggs. Well, we got an egg last week that was the most enormous chicken egg I have ever seen. I hope this photo does it justice. You wouldn't believe this thing.....

Here is hoping for cooler temps and a chance to ride again soon!!!

Honest Scrap Award

Well, I am the thrilled recipient of my first blog award!! Thanks to Callie at MidWestHorse Blog for passing this on to me. I am not sure if I am going to be able to do everything correctly, so bear with me. I suppose the first order of business is to list 10 things about myself that you don't know. Here goes.

1. I do not know what an Honest Scrap Award is -- as flattered as I am to have it bestowed on me, I don't know what it is or what "Honest Scrap" means or signifies (??), or why someone receives it.

2. I am a nerd at heart. Detail oriented to a fault, and I just love to decipher problems. For example, I work in accounting now, and I am happiest when there is something in the accounts that does not make sense -- I then get to go through all the reports, transactions, etc., and piece everything together to find out what happened and solve the problem. Kind of like being a detective.

3. I have had two people very close to me and important in my life commit suicide.

4. John and I were 30 years old when we met. Neither of us had been married before, and neither had children. I couldn't believe it -- most of the guys I met at that time had been married and/or had children, and I didn't do well in those situations. This was a real plus in my book.


5. I had spent too much of my life being angry, insecure, and just generally negative. Time spent talking to a good counselor, some medication, and a spiritual re-awakening (in the form of faith, looking to God) turned me around. My attitude changed, and as a result my life changed.


6. I love to cook when I have time, or when it is for a social gathering of friends -- I hate to cook when I "have to" like when it is 5:30 and I just got home from work.


7. John is better at the domestic stuff than I am. I would rather spend my time working on promoting our real estate business, or working on something for the horse club we belong to. I consider cleaning house a complete waste of my time. Someday I want to be able to hire that chore out.


8. I love to sing. I wish I had the nerve to go to a karoke night someplace and just belt out a song as loudly as I can. Of course, I would have to go alone to a different city where no one knows me -- then I would bolt for the door as soon as the song was over.....



9. I was in the Honor Society in junior high and high school.


10. I was TERRIFIED of horses when we first started taking riding lessons. Thank God I made that breakthrough and got over it. I cannot imagine my life without my horse.



I know I am supposed to pass this along to 10 other bloggers, but I don't think that is possible. I do not have 10 other blogs I am following, and most of the ones I am following have already done this recently. I am wondering if it is OK if I take a rain check? Then once I identify more blogs that I like enough to follow I can send this along......can the rules be bent like that???

Does This Horse Make My Butt Look Fat??

A while back, I posted a story about "Making Friends at the Dunes." The woman we met that day (Gigi) was the Dunes riding a couple of weeks ago on the same day as another friend of ours (Dee). The two of them met and talked for a while. Dee told us Gigi had on a t-shirt that said "Does This Horse Make My Butt Look Fat?" I must have one of those shirts!! I am going to search online and see if I can find one.

So we went riding on Sunday at the Indiana Dunes State Park. It was a great day -- not too hot, not too cold. We had a really nice ride. The neat thing about the trails at the Dunes is that they change all the time. The Dunes are a unique eco-system, and the plant life there is varied and beautiful. Sometimes the trails are underwater, sometimes they are not. But it is always interesting and scenic. The deer flies were sort of bad (only 3 more months till October!!!), but we had put plenty of bug repellant on the girls, so they were not bothered too much. John had the camera for part of the ride, so with these photos he took I guess I have to ask the question posed in the title of this post!!

Chicken Update -- Our poor little Prolapse Chicken has been in the barn in the dark since Friday. She needs to stop laying eggs so her condition can heal. She laid an egg on Saturday, which did not surprise me. But then she laid another on Sunday! I was bummed!! I have had that chicken in the dark, have been out there twice a day since Saturday giving her a sitz bath and putting Preparation H on her. She starts to look better, then she lays an egg and everything flares up again! But I am happy to report that this morning I went out to the barn to check on her and take care of her before going to work, and there was not an egg!! Also, her little rear end looked much better -- so I think we are on the right path. I think I will give her another day or two in the dark and with the treatment just to be sure.

I have such a glamorous life!!

Another Chicken Problem

I came home from work and went out to feed everybody as usual. John was not here -- he is out showing houses, and writing an offer (Thank God!!! Real estate has been so blasted slow!!). I gave the chickens some bread as a treat, and noticed one of them had a mess on her backside. I won't get into the gross details, but obviously something is wrong. I picked her up and turned her over and things did not look good -- red, swollen, that sort of thing. Her feathers were a mess, too. So I put her in the barn and came inside to search the internet. I think I may have found out what is wrong.

According to what I read, she may have what they call "prolapse." It happens when pullets lay large eggs (you would not believe the size of some of the eggs we've been getting). I guess their insides sort of come out. YUK!! Poor thing! Although she does not act sick or anything. She eats and walks around like normal, and this article I read online said that is the case with prolapse. They say to clean the area, apply Preparation H (no kidding!!) and keep her away from the other chickens (they will peck at the affected area) and in the dark as much as possible so she will stop laying.

So I took a bucket of warm water out there, put on my plastic gloves, and set her down in the water. She was real good about it. I turned her over and tried to wipe her off a bit, and she struggled some with that -- I think her little bum is painful. It sure looks painful. I do not have any Preparation H -- if John calls tonight I will ask him to pick some up on his way home. I guess I could call the neighbors and see if they have any, but that is not the sort of thing you do, I suppose! (lol) We are used to borrowing stuff back and forth with the neighbors, but I think we will draw the line here. This one guy on one of the websites I read said he cured his chicken of this by putting sugar on her first, then the Preparation H....pretty wierd, but I think I will give it a try. I have her in the barn, and I put a large box out there with hay in it -- I laid the box on its side so she can go in to sleep. I closed the window so the cats and/or raccoons won't get in there and bother her.

I hope she makes it......I do not want to have another chicken funeral!

I just went out to check on her before publishing this post -- she was laying on the feed box. Now why would she lay there when I made this perfectly good nesting box for her???

Animals at Night

I took some pics of our critters one evening last week...........

Here you can see my poor Divna's eye socket.......

Prayer Request

A friend of a blog friend has suffered a horse-related accident. She has sustained some pretty serious injuries.......we all know that it only takes an instant when a horse is spooked, and their instinct of self-preservation takes over. This is what happened, and our blog-world friend was seriously injured in the aftermath. Please remember her in your thoughts and prayers, and send out best wishes for her speedy and complete recovery. It could be any one of us "horse people" in this situation.....
May God be with her..........