Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Quick notes

1. Maya's started pointing at squirrels!!!

2. Callie apparently escaped through the screen last night and explored the backyard. Maya was growling so Dave took her outside and Callie went running from the yard to the back door once they got to the middle of our yard! Good girl Maya. But next time, keep her from leaving the porch in the first place!

3. It's hard not to burst with pride when I see how 'soft' Destinee's eyes have gotten or how tolerant she is of me. My goal is to be as annoying as a 5 year old so she can handle anything! Sometimes I just laugh and apologize because truly, I can't imagine being excited to see me! Especially on a 'Oh great, where's the lead rope going to go now?' type day.

4. Divya is such a good girl! She's calmed right down and has even started showing her soft eyes and just enjoying chilling with me. I'm happy she's doing well! Now we just have to get the girls to stop beating her up...

5. Divya and Destinee have switched stalls? At least yesterday and today they've been in the wrong stalls with the wrong names! I hope the girls decided to switch on their own and the humans just haven't felt like making them go to 'their' stall. At least that would mean that Divya gets her full pound of grain each meal and Destinee only gets a half! But perhaps more hilarious would be if the person bringing them in can't tell Destinee and Divya apart!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Joys of Equine Massage

It's about time the chestnut filly got some blog time!

Miss Destinee has a visitor for about the next month! My brother/mom's 2 year old, Divya, is at the barn for training. She 'gets' to live in the stall next to Destinee and I try to make sure they receive the same amount of treats and that annoying 'what's Cate going to make me do now' time that they love sooo much. *wink* So far they've both conquered walking around with hula hoops around their neck, over one ear, etc. And figured out how to push the hoops along the arena. We also regularly play with and around cones/barrels/tarps/mounting blocks/poles... basically whatever we can find in the arena!

Divya is being trained by the barn's owner so I get to play nice person. Destinee is being trained by me, so we spend some time each visit working on lounging and normal groundwork along with the loving. Recently the girls have been calm enough that at least one of them gets a neck massage each visit - I put Destinee to sleep the first couple times! Her neck was super tight - all that running around and being doted on must really put strain the neck...  ha. I did a little youtube research and found some more 'moves' from a clip off the equine channel - hopefully the girls will appreciate it! Destinee is rocking the lounging - in about a month, she's almost always responding to vocal cues for walk, trot and whoa. The whip is a nice prop that I get to leave hiding behind my back most the time! I think we're getting a couple more lessons between now and May to work up to cantering and finalize the prep for putting a person on her back! Yay!! Now I just have to get back up to riding shape and maybe take a few lessons myself to work out those 'haven't ridden since Taylor' kinks. My inner thighs are already moaning.

One of my favorite sights is those two girls sticking their heads of their stalls 'smiling' at me. Almost heavenly. Especially when my baby nickers super soft. But yes, I do realize they're both hoping for treats.

Things are pretty hectic here - on top of just starting off the semester, Maya got spayed last week and trying to keep a 6.5 month Irish Setter ball of energy on 'rest' for 14 days is driving me crazy! Not to mention how cooped up she feels. Not going to lie, we're not doing so great on the 'no jumping' to see out the windows thing. She's even managed to get her paws on the counter a couple times. And boy is she tired of having to be leashed to go in her yard. Poor dear.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Door to Door Evangelists

So, I didn't really know that door to door evangelists still existed in non-Jehovah's Witness type fashion! Then today two middle aged women with umbrella's knock on the door.... it's raining so I close the door to the entryway keeping Maya locked in the living room and ask if they'd like to step out of the rain while they do their talk. After thanking me and closing up their umbrellas, the one promptly pulls out her Bible and begins reading from Revelations and telling me how God wants to do things that our government can't even dream of - like raising the dead. And that we should trust Him rather than our government, that the end times are upon us and begins to hand me a brochure which would answer my questions. Overall - she got good marks for her courage, but I must admit I was a little distracted by what was going on in the living room....

Because by this point Maya is in full blown freak out on the other side of the door - I can hear her scratching the freshly painted door but am helpless to stop her since the kind lady keeps talking. When I can't bear it anymore I peak open the door and Maya lunges - tongue out, tail wagging, ready to take these two 'bless your heart' ladies out. Exclamations of 'ooooh, an Irish Setter!' and 'She's beautiful!' ensue. The one closest to the screen door (and owner of two dogs) is the most desired licking accomplishment in Maya's eyes - luckily I was able to grab her collar and she even settled into an antsy 'sit'. That ended when she determined her sitting like a good girl wasn't reaping the reward of attention as it should and she began to 'talk' at the women - our quiet as a mouse pup! 'Talking!' Despite the clearly excited and barely contained wriggling puppy the first woman refuses to leave the brochure on the chair or the table next to the door - instead pushing towards my rather occupied hands. That exchange almost cost us the second lady, who plastered herself to the screen door and escaped Maya's ravaging tongue by a good foot. I must say, my reflexes are quite good!

Thankfully, that was the end of their task for the day so they said repeated their first observations that Maya was beautiful and charming (ha!) and said that they hoped to see me again soon. I can't help but question that last statement... while I am sure the surprise of an excited puppy was probably the least of their worries upon knocking on strangers' doors I can't help but wonder if they will think twice next time before knocking!