adventures with Kieran

What a lovely image, thanks for that liz.

What? Me dripping water from the hose?

lol...the whole day sounds perfect. I miss living in the country and having a horse...I'm living vicariously though you and kieran. Even the sweltering heat. ..........and yeah, the image of you both getting hosed off!

Thought that was what you meant, but had to make a joke.

I just love movies and TV when a woman pulls her helmet off and all this lovely looking hair comes tumbling out. When I prised my helmet off my head my hair was sopping wet, plastered to my head with sweat dripping of the ends. Definitely NOT the movie/TV image!

Back when I rode professionally, another trainer and I used to gauge the heat by how many times we changed our shirts during the day. I would bring a stack of shirts to the barn in the morning. Come in from working a horse, shirt glued to me with sweat. Strip the shirt off. Rinse under the hose. Put on dry shirt. Repeat as necessary. Worst day I remember was a six shirt day.

OMG Liz -- a 6 Shirt Day?? Yoicks & Holycrow! You've got me beat by at least 2 shirts lolol! (And I only ever did the 3-or-4-shirts/day bit at places like horse shows. )

Lol @ Kieran and his unfamiliarity w/posting. My horses were all trained mostly-Western style (had one gelding who would not suffer an English saddle - put it on him and he'd throw up his head, snort, neigh -- and promptly get down and roll! What a brat , heh. That took some long and intensive training to get thru his head. smh). However, they each and all dealt w/posting, no problem. Sitting thru a trot is just too bloody jarring! OW.

Also OW about K's teeth; poor baby. Hope the vet can get him fixed up pronto. I know how cranky I can get when anything is going on inside my mouth -- how lovely that he has such a sunny disposition! I think I'm a lil in love w/him from afar. <3

And kudos re the cleansing of his, um, "Member" coff coff coff omg did that bring back memories! rofl My Daddy, a very VERY shy and modest man, had to show me how to do that -- and I dunno whose face was redder nor who stumbled over the most awkward words during explanations & questions, he or I! omg hilarious at this point, but at the time, sooooo mortifying! hahaha

Kieran sounds like such a sweetheart, and I'm so thankful that y'all found each other. Yaaaay

xo, Chyia, not in the least danger of getting bored! (more please?)

The six shirt day was one of those gawd awful hot and humid summer days we get here. By the4 end of the day I stood in a cold shower, then went out and collapsed on the sofa.

People used to criticize me for working the horses in the heat. My response was a) to adjust the day's work to accommodate the heat and b) I figured they better be used to the heat when we went to shows. Careful workouts in the heat helped them acclimate. Can't tell you the number of times I saw horses struggling and suffering at shows because they could not tolerate the heat.

I never bothered changing shirts at shows. Even in the summer I wore a long sleeve COTTON show shirt and a wool coat. Sounds crazy doesn't it? The cotton wicked the sweat away from my skin and the wool allowed it to evaporate. End of the day I crawled into a stall of the trailer, stripped down to my undies and put on a dry polo shirt and jeans. Taking clothes off was more like peeling them off. They would be glued to me.

When I start missing my showing days I remind myself of those days.

Doesn't sound crazy to this little barn owl, not at all! I always wore long-sleeved cotton shirts; kept the itch off me and was an imitation of my father too -- he seldom wore short-sleeved shirts even on 100-degree days.

Yeah, I don't really miss the horse shows much. Altho I like going as spectator, I don't do well with huge crowds & lotsa noise.

My first horse I finally got at the age of 43, was a gelding......he was so sensitive about getting "cleaned" that the vet had to do it under sedation. What a nuisance that was.

Time & patience & since you have trained horses before, you know how to work them so they will learn.

Sounds so wonderful & so glad that the bond is there. I know when I was caring for the 3 abused stallions that were rescued by the sheriff's department in our town, I ended up being their primary care taker at our mayor's farm just 2 minutes away from my own farm. It was such a wonderful feeling to drive up to the fence & get out hollering "hey guys" & Elvis was the first one to come running up to the fence to see me & that was even without any treat. It's the most awesome feeling to have them get that attached to us & show us how much they do care. That warm fuzzy feel it gives is awesome. I have the cutest photo of Elvis peeking into the barn where I was getting their food ready. We could only open the door enough for him to stick his head through but he definitely wanted to know what I was doing. They were gelded as soon as the owner gave up ownership rather than go to jail for the abuse & then went to the rescue facility where they are getting wonderful training to prepare them for a loving family that will truly CARE for them & love on them.......EVERY HORSE deserves to be loved like that.....glad you found your baby & the connection was there & is growing.

The vet was out yesterday to give Kieran his booster shots, check his teeth and microchip him. He was fine for the shot. The swelling and soreness was gone from his mouth. The vet did find some sharp points on some teeth so he floated (filed down) those. Kieran's mouth was in such bad shape the first time the vet did his teeth he sedated him. Yesterday he stood there like a good boy - no sedation - and let the vet do his thing. He wasn't happy about it, but didn't fight it.

The vet has to come back this afternoon to do the microchip. He forgot to bring the chip yesterday. The vet isn't charging me for the second trip since it was his fault for forgetting the chip.

For those wondering why I'd microchip a horse. If a hurricane comes through the horses might get loose. The chip can help reconnect if they go missing.

Learned something interesting about chipping from the vet yesterday. The state of Louisiana requires all horses to be microchipped when they have a state required blood test (Coggins test). Following Katrina all displaced horses were eventually returned to their owners because of the chips. So many cats and dogs never returned to their people because no one knew who the owners were. He also gave me a good tip learned post-Katrina. If you live in an area that you might be forced to evacuate list someone who lives outside your area as your backup contact. If you list a neighbor they might have to evacuate too.

I bet the reason Kieran is so good about the vet now is cause he feels safe. He knows he's got a forever home now.

I agree Nammu

Microchipping went well. My vet does a surgical prep for microchipping. Some vets just inject the chip and let it go at that. My vet clips the hair from the area and sterilizes the area. He told me he does that because if you just inject the chip and get an infection it involves surgery to remove the chip!

When he got the clippers out to shave the area I wondered how Kieran would handle it. Some horses freak at the sound of the clippers. He stood like a champ for the whole process. Flinched a little when the chip was injected, but the needle they use is HUGE.

Once again the good boy was a good boy. I'm relieved knowing he is chipped. For the eleven zillionth time - I'm so happy we found each other!

Nammu and Cake, thanks for the kind comment about him being more trusting because he knows this is his forever home.

Animals sense it. When we got McGee he was a bush cat never held before or lived in a house etc. yet that cat sat in water while I applied dawn dish soap to him to get the fleas off of him. He was just to little to get flea medicine and he sat for hours and let me pick fleas off him. Then curled up on me and went to sleep. When they feel safe you can really tell.

I've been working outside a lot while I've been on vacation. Kieran has taken to wandering over to where I'm working, talking to me, getting a scratch then wandering off. It's like he comes over to touch base, then goes about his business. Been a long time since I had one that would do this. Gives me warm fuzzies when it happens.

I am so glad he is doing good

He had his third visit from the farrier yesterday. He was a good boy about it this time. First two times he acted up a little bit. Stood like a trouper yesterday. At the rate his feet are growing a couple more trims and he ought to have nice healthy feet. As his feet grow out we are able to trim off the nasty old stuff left from when he was not being cared for.

He came up to me while I was working in the yard today. It was horridly hot today. He came over and stood near me just looking miserable. I scratched him a bit and loved on him, but he still acted like he felt miserable. I took him over and turned the hose on him. He was a happy boy about the cool water. Woody, the other horse, came over so he could have a turn under the hose too. Smart boys!

Been on vacation the last couple of weeks. I'd planned to do some riding while I was home. It has been so miserably hot I just couldn't bring myself to ride. I go back to work this week, then have another week and a half off. Maybe we can get in some short rides then.

The heat is here in tx till at least the middle of July, hope it cools off there in Florida during your next time off period.

Poor Kieran does not seem to deal with the heat very well. Last night when I came home from work he was standing in his stall. Door was open so he could come and go as he wanted. He was soaked in sweat and breathing hard, both signs a horse is hot. He came out of his stall and nuzzled me. He was hot to the touch when I stroked him. Still in my business clothes from work I took him out and turned the hose on him. His respiration came down. I could see him relax like "oh that feels goooood!"

Tonight when I got home I had the sense to change clothes before I went out to the barn. I was standing and looking at something when he came over and rubbed his nose on me. He was sweating and breathing hard again. I swear he was telling me he wanted a shower. I obliged and hosed him down again. The expression on his face was pure bliss.

Out of curiosity I checked the temp before I came in the house - 93F in the shade!!!! No wonder the poor boy was hot. Even this heat lovin', solar powered lizard thinks 93 degrees at 6PM is too stinkin' hot!

The feel like temperature was probably hotter!

I just checked a heat index chart - no wonder the poor boy is miserable. The heat index is around 110!!!!!!!!

That's horrible! No wonder!

Yeah, if this heat holds during my next time off I don't think I'll get any riding down unless it's early in the AM.

When we had high temps like this (42 degrees celcius) my horses were hosed at lunch time and again at about 5 PM.
Sometimes it is cooler to actually keep them in their stables if the barn/stables have been built to maximise the cooler air rushing past.
I basically don't ride during those days. If I don't have the energy to throw a saddle onto his back, there is no chance he'll want to go for a ride. And I'm not going to force him to work in the heat as there really can be no benefit and makes riding a chore.

Hi Sugahorse! Long time no see!

When I was home during the day I would go out and hose down any of the horses who wanted it. I'm gone for work during the day now. My best compromise is to leave the stall doors open so they can come and go as they want when I'm gone. There are trees in the pasture they can get under to get out of the sun or they can go in their stalls. While I was home a couple of weeks ago I noticed they stood under the trees part of the time and went in their stalls part of the time. I trust they know what feels best.

I agree if it's too hot for me to want to throw a saddle on them it's too hot to make them work. Turns into misery for all involved. A friend and I rode for all of 20 minutes last Saturday. Both horses told us they'd had enough. We decided we had too. Oddly Kieran was less warm after I rode him than he had been standing around in the shade.

I feel for you guys it's been hot here to but then the next day it's cold. It's like the weather can't make up it's mind what time of year it is