And Then the Wheels Fell Off (2/6/26)

Skeets and I ended on such a good note last Thursday, that I couldn't wait to give it another go on Friday. A little voice told me that it might not be a great idea, since I'd be getting home from work later, about 5:00 p.m., but then another little voice reminded me that I'd promised Skeeter we'd go out again. I rationalized it as the sun wouldn't be setting quite yet when I got home, and we'd have 10-15 minutes to take a quick walk.

Skeeter happily met me at the gate, and practically haltered herself. Perfect!

Our walk from the pen to our driveway (about 15 yards) was brilliant. I just knew we were going to have another great walk like the day before.

Then her head went up and the geese took flight, followed immediately by shotgun blasts. Ironically, the GunDiva's horse hates guns. Hates them. She settled down pretty quickly, but I decided that going down the farm road was a Bad Idea, and changed our plan to just going for a quick trip around the back yard.

Turns out, that was also a Bad Idea.

Cows had moved into the pasture north of us, about a quarter mile. Never mind that cows aren't new to her. They were in a new spot and that was concerning.

I let her watch the cows for a bit, until she relaxed, then attempted to continue a lap around the back yard.

Cue more geese and gunshots, and we were off to the rodeo again. I'm really happy that I use a 12-15' lead rope. Sometimes I cuss it, because it's a lot to handle, but for moments like this, I really love having the extra length.

She circled, concerned, a couple of times. Then her head went straight up, her nostrils flared, and she must have scented the coyotes on top of everything else. Suddenly, her concern went straight to fear. Oh, holy hell. She could not keep her feet still and wanted to get away, but was still respectful enough of the lead to not yank it out of my hands. She also never tried to run me over, which I mentioned has happened when she was younger.

I let her circle at her speed (trot/canter) in an attempt to get her anxiety/fear under control. When she would stop for a breather, I would talk and pet. I did deep breathing exercises, hoping she'd follow along.

Not thrilled, but trying.

We actually made pretty good headway with relaxing, and started to head back to the pen. A neighbor to our northwest took that opportunity for a mag dump: pop-pop-pop-pop-pop. Rapid fire. I don't know if they were just testing their pistol, or if they were shooting at something, but it didn't matter to Skeets. The shooting came from behind her and she was just barely starting to relax.

It was off to the races again. I've never been at a total and complete loss with a horse before. I'm trying to be less 'cowboy' and more 'understanding' of the horse's needs/feelings, to be more of a partner and less of an authoritarian. It's worked well with Skeeter for the most part. 

I knew I'd have to get Skeeter's focus somehow, but was afraid of increasing her fear/anxiety even more. If she was just having a temper tantrum, I wouldn't have hesitated to get big and get after her, but this wasn't a temper tantrum, this was fear/stress. She's terribly food driven, so I thought that if I could only figure out how to get to the tack room to get a handful of grain, I might be able to catch her focus. 

I don't believe in bribing horses. 

At all. 

And I felt like a failure for even considering it. Just as I was trying to keep hold of my black horse kite, and pull out my phone to text L.E. for help, L.E. walked out of the house to see if we needed anything. I caved and asked her to grab a bucket of grain. She did, and when she walked back out and shook the grain bucket, it set Skeets off again. For some horses, the rattle of a grain bucket means yummies. I've never once rattled a grain bucket for any of the horses, because, well, I don't believe in bribing them and they don't get bowl food.

It took a few more laps around me for Skeeter to realize that L.E. might have something good in that bucket, and she stopped to look at her. Once she saw the handful of grain, she decided that her stomach was more important than her fear.

As soon as I saw the switch flip from "freaking out/OMG we're all going to die" to pushy food mare, I found my footing again. I didn't mind getting big and making the corrections she needed to behave to get her back to the pen.

I'm an idiot who should have listened to the first little voice (intuition) telling me it was a Bad Idea. But, like most women, I ignored my intuition, and rationalized why I was being silly. It almost got us into a lot of trouble.

A Little Walk to the Rodeo (2/5/26)

Last Thursday, I got off work a little early and it was gorgeous out. Skeeter and I are having relationship problems, so I thought spending time with her would be good. She's been okay when I pulled her to ride, but I definitely feel a disconnect, which makes me sad. I decided we'd go for a short walk down the farm road, and just spend some time together. 

She seemed happy with the plan and off we went.

Gentle, curious, and scanning for any
dropped corn along the road.

I have a rule with the horses when we're walking - they can have "fast food", meaning if they can scoop it up without stopping or breaking stride, they can eat it. It's a rule that has worked really well for us for years, though it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Since I had lyra that night, I'd planned on a short walk, just to the tree and back, which is about a mile. 

Life was happy. 

Skeeter and I were happy. 

And in all this happiness, I decided to stop and take a picture at the farm crossroad. It's a nice, wide spot, easy for stopping and standing. We stopped, I fumbled around trying to get my phone out and activate my camera.

Then, Skeeter caught a whiff of the coyotes. Our coyote pack is large and out of control this year - they're everywhere and they think the farm roads are their own personal highway. There weren't any within sight, but Skeeter smelled 'em and the rodeo was on.

Her head went up, her nostrils flared, and she bolted. Politely, in a circle around me, careful not to run me over, but still bolted. On one hand, I was super proud of how far she's come with respect to personal space, as she had run through me when she was younger. On the other hand, I had to get her calmed down enough to head back home. I knew if I tried to turn her home in the state she was in, it would be a bad thing.

We worked through it - lots of circles, and snorting, and changing directions - until she calmed down enough to spy a corn cob. As soon as she asked for it, I knew she was good.

Still a little worried, but happier with food in
her mouth (so am I!)

Big sigh, "okay, Mom, we can go now."

She was in a hurry to get back, but not so much of one that we had to fight about who was leading the way home. The further from the crossroads we got, the more she relaxed.

She's such a teenager - can you tell how thrilled
she is to have to take a picture with Mom?

Always scanning for fast food.

All the nuzzles and kisses when we got home.

Despite the freakout at the crossroads, I'm pleased with how well it went. I still don't know what's broken in our relationship, but I'm doing what I can to work on it.

I'm Not Sure I Deserve Skeeter

It's been two weeks since I've had a chance to climb back up on Skeeter. (As I typed that, it sounded like I was going to confession - ha!)

Maybe I needed the almost two years without riding to appreciate what a gem of a mare I have. I mean, she's still pushy on the ground, and opinionated, but she really is a special horse and I'm glad she chose me all those years ago.

She eagerly met me at the gate when I called her, and remembered her manners as we were leaving the pen. Last time, she got in big trouble for trying to push past me instead of waiting until she was asked to follow. We did have a bit of a discussion about approaching the hitch rail. She prefers to be tied to Pearl's hitch rail, because then she cleans up everything Pearl has dropped out of her bowl. When we walk by Pearl's rail and head to our own, she gets sad and stubborn. It didn't take too much to remind her that she needed to walk up nicely to her own hitch rail, but it's definitely something we'll have to work through.

She stood like a rock star while getting groomed and saddled. Which, she should, being an old broke horse, but we're out of practice.

She still doesn't like the mounting block, and prefers me to mount from the ground, but until she loses some weight and I gain some flexibility, that's not going to happen. I'm super thankful for all of my Estes training, though, since Skeets likes to walk off as I mount from the block. She doesn't when I mount from the ground. Do I know that I should dismount and keep at it until she stands still? Yes. Am I willing to invest the time in that right now? No. That's something that we'll work on when it's just the two of us, not when L.E. and Pearl are waiting on us. Yes, I know that makes me a "bad" owner/rider, but frankly, at this point, I'm picking my battles.

We only rode for about 15 minutes around the backyard, working on serpentines, figure eights around a tree and the mounting block, a few laps each direction. When she wanted to pick up a trot, I let her and kept her going a few more steps when she wanted to come back down to a walk. My body is remembering what it's like to be astride and I was much more relaxed this time. Still had to remind myself to breathe while posting, but that'll come back as well.

L.E. and Pearl

It's not a ride if I don't get a picture of her derp ears.

Our backyard has changed a lot in the past couple of years,
the horses don't seem to mind the changes.

The pallets that make up the walls of the greenhouse used
to be our bridge obstacles for the horses.

The ride was short and sweet, and I asked Skeeter to drop me off at the mounting block. I don't recall the last time I dismounted onto the mounting block, actually, I'm not sure I ever have. After a moment of confusion she stepped right up and allowed me to dismount without moving a muscle. It felt very weird (for both of us, I'm sure).

After our ride, I wanted to take her through the archway in front of the greenhouse. It's something I want to work on, because I want to take our Christmas pictures there and it didn't go so well last year. I had laid cardboard down to kill the weeds, and none of the horses liked walking on the slippery cardboard. This summer, I was able to get the flagstone put down and some creeping thyme planted, so it's more like real ground instead of cardboard ground.

L.E. was kind enough to take pictures for us, and I'm so thrilled with how well Skeets did walking through the arch.

You can see how thrilled she is. Willing,
but unimpressed.

Even less impressed with forced cuddles ...

"Ugh, Mom! A kiss?!"

"Are we done yet?"

Funny how she never balks when we're done riding, and we're headed back to her hitch rail to get undressed after a ride, isn't it?

Someone looks pretty proud
of herself, doesn't she?

"Don't forget my 'good girl' treat, Mom."

She's so out of shape that even the short time we rode, she lathered up between her legs and couldn't wait to throw herself on the ground for a good roll. We'll keep with the short rides for a bit, and gradually increase our time as her fitness improves. Now that we're both middle aged, it takes longer than it did when we were young 'uns.

I Finally Rode My Horse!

The last documentation I have of riding Skeeter was from November 13, 2023 at my neighbor's arena. I rode with the Bionic Cowgirl and L.E. I always take pictures of our rides for documentation, even though the pictures are basically always the same, and kind of boring. However, I'm glad I'm in the habit of it, so I could look back to see how long it's been since I rode.

671 DAYS!

That's almost two years. Holy cow, I feel bad about it. But you know what? I have the most amazing, pain in the ass mare you'll ever meet. I pulled her from the pen, did about five minutes worth of ground work (no longing - I don't believe in it for "getting the wiggles out") with her, to make sure she was paying attention to me, then saddled her up.

The saddle used to fit. It used to fit quite nicely. Almost two years ago. Now that she's been sitting and is chonky, her clothes don't fit at all. 

She is a big girl right now.

Unlike human clothes, though, just letting out the cinches a few notches, and loosening the breast collar, made her saddle wearable. Does it fit well enough for a two hour ride on the mountain? No. Does it fit well enough to piddle around the yard and the farm roads to get exercise to start getting the weight off? Yes. She stood like the well-broke horse she is while I adjusted everything. 

We did just a few more minutes of ground work while we waited on L.E. and Pearl to get home from their lesson. While we were waiting, I thought I'd get her bitted up. Y'all. The girl's face got fat! I had to let out the bridle by a hole on each side. I probably should have loosened her chin strap as well, but she did okay with it, and I'll double check it again next time we ride.

As usual, she gave me some attitude about wanting to use the mounting block. She much prefers me to mount from the ground. However, with her increased girth, the stirrups are about an inch too high for me to reach from the ground, not that they were ever easy for me to reach to begin with. After a few refusals at the mounting block, we got our poop in a group and I climbed on my horse for the first time in forever.

Obligatory between the ears pic.

L.E. was kind enough to take pictures of us.

Ignore the brimless helmet - my hell hat brim
came off and I haven't replaced it.

We rode for only about 10 - 15 minutes, but it was enough to get started. Enough to remind both myself and Skeeter that we can do this. It's hard for me to look back and see all of our great rides on the mountain, and then realize we're back here, not quite to square one, but close.

The plan is to ride at least once a week, now that gardening season is wrapping up. While I don't mind her going into winter a bit on the heavy side, this is extreme, and we've got to get some weight down before bad things start to happen.

Well Child Checks for the Wild Ones

The Wild Ones were way, way, way overdue for their annual vet visit and shots. I intended to get them done last April - of 2024! - and blinked, now it's almost the end of July, 2025. Ugh.

I haven't been spending nearly enough time with the horses and they're basically pasture ornaments at this point. Skeets gets loves and kisses through the fence, as does Copper, but as far as any handling goes? Yeah, nothing of that sort happens unless the farrier is coming. I'm not proud of it. At all.

But ... I finally did get around to calling our fabulous vet for their "well child checks". They needed their shots and their teeth floated. Our two also needed dewormed, but L.E. is great about keeping Pearl on a deworming schedule, so she didn't need that.

I was appalled when I pulled Skeets and brushed out her mane. She's developed a cresty neck. Now, I knew she was getting chonky, but with her split mane I had assumed what I was seeing was her cowlick from her mane splitting. Yeah, no. Very recently, she's developed a cresty neck, which worries me.

With her mane all brushed to one side,
it's easier to see that she's got a big ole
fat deposit on her neck.

Our horses are free fed with a hay chix net, and I knew that she was a bit pudgy. Luckily, I'd already ordered a new "extreme slow feed" net and had plans to replace the old one yesterday. Our vet wasn't overly worried about her cresty neck, as she hasn't developed big fat pads over her withers. He gave her a body condition score of 8/10. A diet and increased exercise should get her back on track. I guess this means Skeets and I are back to taking evening walks. It'll do us both good. The problem with "air ferns" like we have is that once they hit middle age, the easy keepers can become fat keepers.

I'm super proud of how well our pasture ornaments behave for the vet. There's never any drama with injections, or getting their good drugs for floating. They really like the vet and his wife, which makes everyone's lives so much easier.

Skeets did require a second dose of
the good stuff. The vet's wife said she
was just making up for missing
last year's dose.

Skeets was drunk-drunk after her second dose of drugs, so I thought it would be okay to put her back in the pen. I didn't think there was any way she could eat, and therefore choke, while she was in that state. I should have just tied her to the hitch rail during Copper's turn, but I figured she'd just go take a snooze.

This is what I expected - just a snooze while the drugs wore off.

Chonky girl had other plans. She wasn't eating, she was using
the feeder as a pillow. She's sound asleep.

Copper is always everyone's favorite. There's a reason his name is Copper Casanova - he's gorgeous, sweet, and everyone falls in love with him.

I've always thought of him as our "big guy" - he's drafty, sure. But he also runs a bit chonky. Or so I thought. The vet rated him 6/10 for body condition, explaining that his body type just makes him look fat(ish). He's our true pasture ornament, since we can't ride him for more than half an hour, and only on the flat due to a congenital stifle issue. How is it the horse who gets the *least* exercise and handling is the one with the best BCS? 

Overall, I'm very happy with the way our vet visit went, and I'm so pleased that our vet and his wife are happy with the way our horses behave. They might make me crazy sometimes (I'm looking at you, Skeets), but they behave "in public" when other people are around. It reminds me a lot of when my kids were growing up - they had the capacity to be absolute shits at home, but they knew better than to embarrass me in public.

The vet always compliments us on how easy they are to handle, and tells us it's a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of other mustang owners. I know that my mustang friends understand how important it is to have good horse citizens, especially for mustangs. However, a lot of "horse lovers" who have no business owning horses adopt mustangs under the mistaken belief that they're "rescuing" them, and have a romanticized image of what it's going to be like. The reality is, that if they're not equipped to either do the initial gentling themselves, or can't afford to have a professional do it, and then keep up on it, they're doing themselves, their horses, and the mustang image a disservice. They're the reason why it's hard to find vets and farriers who are willing to work with mustangs.

11th Anniversary of My Day of Choosing

January 2025

I meant to have some cuddles and get pictures with Skeeter the other day (May 2nd, to be exact) to celebrate our Day of Choosing, the day she choose me from the pens in Canon City. Silly me, I went to Canon City thinking *I* was going to be in charge of picking my horse. Instead, she chose me, and I'm forever thankful.

This silly mare is everything I swore I'd never tolerate in a horse: pushy on the ground, food driven, heavy on the bit, and refuses to load in the trailer. Basically, she is Karma incarnate. Like those parents who say, "my child would never..." and then end up with hell children. Yeah, that's my Skeeter Bang.

But she's also loving and sweet. And, dang, I do love this girl.

She's not easy, but she's taught me so much in the 11 years since she chose me. My horsemanship has improved - I've had to learn new ways to approach things, and patience. I've had to learn so much patience. When Skeets gets her stubborn pants on, she likes to keep them on for a good long time. 

Trailer loading is worst skill, and her favorite time to don her stubborn pants. We've worked, and worked, and worked on it. She still hates it. There are times when I wish I could get her to understand that if she just gets on the trailer, we can go have adventures together. She loves adventure. There's a whole big world out there that we could explore. If she'd only get in the damn trailer.

She's a terrible mounted posse horse, but the most amazing parade horse you'll ever find. Hates the arena, but will go for miles on a mountain trail. Paws at the gate and hitch rail, but stands for the farrier. Pulls back when hard tied, but will stand with the lead rope just looped around the hitch rail. 

Thank you, Skeets, for choosing me. I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I'm glad you chose me.

I'm So Ashamed

 For real.

#1: I haven't posted any horse content since May, 2021!

#2: Even worse, I haven't ridden my horse since November of 2023.

November 6, 2023

I'm lucky that Skeets is such an amazing horse, I really am. While I haven't been riding, I try to spend at least a few seconds with her each day, even if it's just for cuddles. I just don't seem to have enough time in the day to get everything done. I spent the summer of '23 building Whimsy with Mom. My focus was on helping Mom heal, and so we spend our time working on things other than the horses - she was still feeling a bit unsteady around them due to her TBI and the fact that her body took a beating during the accident. We kind of focused on Bill's death, but Mom spent time in the ICU for a collapsed lung, flail chest, TBI, and fractured jaw. Even though she's bionic, it takes time to fully heal from injuries like that.

We worked with the horses here and there, but always for very short periods of time. Despite my lack of attention, Skeeter continues to be a love bug and comes when called. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was under the weather, and she rested her forehead against my chest and just breathed. It's amazing how magical horses are, isn't it?

With my new-found grandma crochet skills, I crocheted each of the horses a Christmas hat and we've been making them do their Christmas pictures in their stocking caps. It's so stinkin' cute!

The Bionic Cowgirl with Washoe and Alloy

L.E. with Miss Pearl*

Me, with Skeets and Copper

I had thought to get our pictures taken with them under the archway in front of Whimsy, but they weren't really having it. Mom, of course, got Washoe to stand nicely under the archway, but it was too narrow for both of her boys to be in there with her. I'd taken Skeets and Copper through it several times prior, in an attempt to make picture day go easier, but it didn't help. They feed off my anxiety for Christmas pictures. It always seems like we're in a rush to get them done before the weather hits, or because our schedules are crazy and we only have an hour or so to complete them.

I'm working on the path under the arch, so this year there will be flagstone rather than slippery, crinkly cardboard, so I think the kiddos will be more amenable to walking through and standing.

January, 2025

Despite only getting scratches and kisses, along with very occasional outings, Skeeter still seeks me out. I am forever grateful for my mare.

*This is one of my favorite pictures of L.E. and Pearl, because Pearl's not a cuddly horse, so to see her leaning into L.E. makes my heart so happy.

Finishing Touches

 This, for me, was the hardest part. 

I worked so hard to make the armor *just so* and it was incredibly beautiful to look at. I was so proud of how it turned out.

A big part of me wanted them to stay pristine and beautiful. But Skeeter is supposed to be my War Mare, so we needed to do some battle wearing. Jay is the expert here, after painting his Boba Fett rifle, so I acquiesced to his experience and let him lead the way.

It was actually pretty simple. He sprayed a thin coat of black paint on the armor, then I wiped it down with a paper towel soaked in 90% isopropyl alcohol. With his artistic eye, he could see which areas needed a light sanding as well.

As much as I loved the pristine armor, this final step really added depth and made it look far more realistic. It's still a trip to pick up a piece of armor and have it weight mere ounces instead of what i looks like it should weigh.

I met my deadline of completing the barding, but didn't get a chance to try it on Skeeter until a few days later, in the beginning of April.

There are some adjustments to be made. First, I didn't take into account that the breast collar would need to bend (yes, Mom, I did recall you saying that after I attached everything as it was laying flat), so the center piece's attachment points needed to be moved.

Easy enough. I just took a marker and marked where I needed to move the velcro dots to and made the change that evening.

I did get it to kind of hold up for half a second for another picture, so we can see what it'll look like when correct.

I'm kind of lukewarm about the leg guards after putting them on her. Not sure if I like them or not. I'll still put the straps on and see whether or not I like them as the time comes closer.

Meh. I think I like the thought better than the execution.

The one item I was looking really forward to trying on was the chanfron, but the dots and the bridle weren't playing nicely together. The best I could eventually do was mark where I needed to glue the dots. I think the adhesive on the dots just didn't want to stick to the biothane and it kept popping off. I took the chanfron and the bridle into the house and used tacky glue to attach the dots. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten back out there to stick it back on her face. I decided against having the chanfron sit flush on her face, because she hates a sweaty face, which means I'll still have to rig a strap or two to attach the chanfron to the browband, but that should be fairly easy.

After we were done playing dress up, I let her inspect her barding. She was not impressed, though she wore it very well.

Now it's time to get started on my armor, and that's far more intimidating. 

Leg guards

After I finished her chanfron, I decided I liked the pattern so well that I used the same type of layout for her leg guards. While Antiope's horse didn't have leg guards, I kinda felt like Skeeter needed them. I really felt like she needed them after I realized how much I loved her face guard.

Skeets has been a rock star with me doing weird things to her. As with everything else, I was kind of flying by the seat of my pants and trying stuff just to see if it would work. I'd intended to make a proper pattern for her leg guards by covering her lower legs with plastic wrap, then using painter's tape over it to draw the pattern on, then cut it off, take it inside and make the pattern from there.

My head was spinning trying to keep all of the steps in order and wondering if she'd stand nicely for all of that. In the middle of the night, it dawned on me that I could just try to use one of the pre-cut sheets of foam I had and wrap it around her leg. Much, much better idea. I took one of the sheets, wrapped it around her leg and decided it was going to be perfect. Or, perfect enough.

The next obstacle I had to overcome was how to shape them to her. The videos I've watched showed heating the foam, wrapping around the limb, and securing it to cool. I didn't want to wrap hot foam around Skeeter's leg, so I looked around the house until I found something I thought would work.

Turns out a spray can of Lysol was just about the right size. I heated up the foam and wrapped it around the Lysol until it cooled. My first attempt didn't go so well; I'm guessing that I didn't heat the foam enough. My second attempt was slightly better, but then the painter's tape didn't want to stick to the warm foam. Back to the drawing board. As I was looking around for something to wrap around the foam, I remembered I had a roll of vet wrap. Yay! Problem solved!

Because the foam I used was rather flimsy, I knew it wouldn't hold it's shape if I tried to glue on the leather if it hadn't been pre-formed. A quick stop on YouTube showed me I could boil the leather for a few minutes, then wrap it around the can to hold it's shape. Since the vet wrap finally worked on the base of the leg guards, I did the same for the leather as it dried. It worked beautifully!

While the leather dried, I patterned and cut the armor layers. 

Once I was satisfied with them, I painted them. While the paint was drying, I glued the leather to the bases. Turns out that I didn't quite get my bases rolled square, so each one has one edge that higher than the other. Rather than messing with them again, I decided that I'd just use the higher side to determine which leg it would go on. The higher side would go on the outside of the leg for more protection. You might call it lazy to not start over, I call it, well, lazy.

The lopsidedness is not visible in the picture, but it exists.

With the layers painted and dried, I set about riveting them together. I thought it would make it easier to glue them onto the base as one unit.

It was a good thought to rivet them all together first. It was wrong, and I'm very thankful Jay was home to give me an extra set of hands, but it was a good thought. Sometimes I just have to learn the hard way. With minimal (for me) cussing, we were able to wrap the layers around the base. You know that vet wrap that came in so handy earlier? Yeah, that stuff? I stupidly threw it away after I glued the leather to the base. So back to the painter's tape we went.

This time, I didn't wrap them around the Lysol can, I just trusted the formed base and leather would help it hold it shape, which it did for the most part.

I think the lopsidedness is a bit more apparent here, but you have to look for it. I had to do some trimming with the craft knife on the sides, because I didn't cut the layers quite as long as I should have, but I was trying to use up left-over foam. Since what I had to trim off is on the back side, no one will notice and I don't want them to wrap completely around her lower leg anyway.

Next, now that all of the barding is made, we have to battle wear it. I'm not going to lie - I like the look of pristine armor, but that isn't the point, so I'm going to take a deep breath and have Jay help me with the next step.