Paige’s Page

Today was absolutely gorgeous weather. Temps in the 50’s, nary a drop of rain. Paige’s paddock is even showing signs of actually become a “dry lot.”

I had to work late, didn’t get home until after 7:00. HOWEVER, that did not stop me from enjoying the beautiful weather for the remainder of the evening. After chores, I loved on Paige for a while as the sun was going down. I found a new itchy spot on her chest that she was pretty enthusiastic about. Hehe, she was stretching her neck up and repositioning herself so I’d scratch where she wanted me to. She’s becoming much more affectionate about letting me rub and hug on her. I think she’s really itchy because of losing her winter coat, which is just about entirely gone now. Mum came by to let my dog out for me today, and she said she couldn’t believe how different Paige looks!

There is a lovely silver maple tree in Paige’s paddock that has low-hanging stout branches. I almost cut off the lower branches last Fall because I didn’t want Paige to hurt herself, but now I’m glad I didn’t. It really is a lovely tree, as the low branches sweep out and upward so there aren’t any sharp branches sticking out. On a whim tonight, I climbed up in it and hung out there for a while. Paige hung out with me. I felt like such a little kid–what sublime happiness that was, fresh air, twilight, sitting in a comfy tree, hanging with my lovely horse. I feel so relaxed now after a pretty rough day today.

While I was up there, I got a good view of just how expansive her back is. She’s a wide horse! A couple times I swung my legs over her neck and back. She wasn’t spooked by it, but I don’t think she knew what to make of it. She would stand there for a couple seconds, then walk around the tree to the other side of me. She also used the tree as a rubbing post for her butt while I was up there. It was pretty amusing from that vantage point.

I caught Paige lying down sleeping this morning. This is only the second time I’ve seen her do it since I’ve had her. It makes me so happy, I guess because it makes me think she feels secure and comfortable enough here to let her guard down.  She even rolled in her paddock tonight while I was heading out to the compost pile.

The weather MIGHT be turning Spring-like. Do I dare tempt The Fates of April Snow by saying that? Geez, I hope not. We’ve had enough already!

Tonight I worked with Paige for the first time in a couple weeks. It feels like such a luxury to still have daylight at 8:00 p.m. I tied her, used the shedding blade and soft curry on her, and asked for all four feet repeatedly, mixing it up slightly. She’s a dream about her front feet now. After I reward her, she’ll even pick her foot up again while I’m standing 5 feet away from her, thinking maybe I’ll give her another treat. Hehe. Reminds me of when I was a kid and taught our dog to roll over (he was nine years old–who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?) Well, that dog got to where he would spontaneously roll over if someone was eating something he thought he might like to try.

She’s also getting better about her back feet, slowly. When she picks them up, she’s a little less jerky about it, and seems to be a little more relaxed about it in general. We’re still not to the point where I feel comfortable holding them yet. When she holds them up quietly, that’s when I’ll know she’s ready.

After I let her back out, I sat on the fence of the paddock and hung out with her for a while. She always comes over and hangs out with me when I do that. She kept wanting to play the nipping game, but I kept blocking her. I’m just no fun. She needs a horse to pick on. I will feel so much better when I can get her a pasture buddy. One foot in front of the other…

I also stood on this big two and a half foot tree stump in her paddock and leaned on her back, held onto her neck, moved her head around, and just got her used to having me up higher like that. She was completely unphased as usual, lovely girl.

After reading that study about some of the risk factors associated with colic, I have begun to feed Paige her hay first. I let her munch on that while I do the other chores, then I feed her grain. She doesn’t seem to eat it as quickly this way, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it?

I finally measured Paige, and she’s 15.2 hh tall, which is 5′ 2″ at the withers. I thought she was right around there, but it’s cool to know for sure now.

I am in such a good mood today because I did my taxes and I’m getting a fat return this year! This is such a wonderful development because I have been stressing about coming up with the remaining funds needed for the pasture-fencing project. I was at the point where I either had to wait until summer to do it or sell my painted resins. Paige is so important to me that I was very close to selling the resins. I was feeling a little bummed about it, but I was willing to do it.

So this lovely tax return will pay for the rest of the fence, and I get to keep my lovelies for now.  Here are pictures of them–there are only five. They are all painted by me, sculpted by other artists.

China Valentin sculpted by Brigitte Eberl:

Resin Valinor sculpted by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig:

Resin Chica sculpted by Brigitte Eberl:

Resin Rasam sculpted by Sarah Rose:

Resin Boreas (traditional size) sculpted by Karen Gerhardt:

I had a dream last night that I was riding Paige for the first time.  She was lovely and fun to ride.

I would really like to get a roundpen erected that I can work with her in before I take that step, though.  I want her to be well-trained before I ever get on her back, because I think it will avert a lot of problems later.

I’m getting closer to being able to put up the pasture fence.  It’s mostly a matter of waiting for the weather to dry up and warm up at this point.  That will give me and Paige a lot more freedom and space for working.  It’s just too hard to do much with her in her little paddock, especially with how wet it’s been lately.

Sometimes when Paige stretches, she puts her front legs out in front of her and sticks her rear end in the air like a cat.  It totally cracks me up when she does it.

Yesterday I took a few new pictures of her.  You can really start to see her roany corn spots now.  She’s into rolling in the mud right now because she’s trying to shed her winter coat.

http://carolynsmodelhorses.com/Temp/Paige/PaigesWeight1.JPG

Nellie and her unborn baby passed away last night after Nellie’s long battle with sand colic. Miracle Horse Rescue adopted her and two other PMU mares in January. They did all they possibly could to try to save her and her foal. Nellie was fearful of humans when MHR adopted her, but throughout her fight against colic, Nellie was cooperative and trusting as if she knew these humans were trying to help her.

To Nellie, her foal, and all the loving angels at Miracle Horse Rescue, here is The Starfish Story. This is what I live my life by, and it embraces the love that MHR gave to Nellie:

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.
The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf.

Then, smiling at the man, he said…”I made a difference for that one.”

-Adapted from Loren Eisley’s book “The Star Thrower.”

To learn more about sand colic: http://www.equine-originals.com/sandcolic.htm