Hi everyone,

Sprague that sure was 2 tragic events - the plane has been all over the news- hadn't heard about the wagon - seems like a real sincere guy - what a shame!

? - is there a sprague street near you?

its been beyond frosty here back to snow and just plain cold - not good for much of anything cept I really hope spring gets here soon! and as AMM says all the time " I'm over it"

So sorry no luck with dog 7 - You are right 7 no way I'd trust someone else with my mare! Keep us posted! Hope it is soon - have the camera ready

Happy Valentines!

Howdy all, my so much to catch up on.

Congrats Mrs T on the new baby - wow that has come around so quick, where are the photos????  Sorry to hear about Destiny, not good to lose ones pony at any time.

Sprag, Rem, rr, SS, SH, 7 - howdy sorry to read about accidents and snow and everything as you can imagine it has been pretty hectic in Aus these past couple of weeks and thankyou for ALL your kind thoughts, fortunately we are about 2000 klm away from the fires and about the same away from the flooding.  They have sent 1 guy to prison awaiting trial for the bushfires, weird thing is he is a volunterr fire fighter!!!!!  He is doomed, there is much ill feeling and some fool put his details up on YouTube sad thing is he is only ONE of a DOZEN or so arsonists who caused this.

I saw someone in one of the other Forums put up a thread about people rescuing horses etc from the bushfires there have been so many heroics unfortunately the whole thing has created a bit of a monster as people have gone overboard with donations and sending truck loads of feed and hay etc it is turning up with no notification therefore there is no where to store the stuff, no one knows who sent it and what is in the truck half the time, there have been people arrested for fraud, asking for donations etc and pocketing the money, amazing how a disaster brings out the BEST in people - NOT!  The sad thing is that so much focus has been put on the bush fire victims that the flood victims here in Qld have basically been forgotten - even our stupid prime minister has sent out a statement telling insurance companies to hurry up and pay out - that BOZO knows nothing obviously about the prudential regulations surrounding insurance claims he must think people ring up and we give them hundreds and thousands of dollars!!!!  The Bushfire appeal has raised some $40 million dollars which isnt bad given the hard times we apparently have here!  My riding club has made donations to both fire and flood causes but I have to say I am tired of being asked to donate to every man and his dog (or horse).

SO back to my own little piece of Aus, the boy had his shoe removed last night and the vet has had some input now and it would seem that he has an under run sole - that is there has been some infection there and the sole has seperated a little - made worse by the wet ground his sole is a little spongy and the farrier aggrevated the situation shoeing him last week, so farrier is going to make him a special shoe to protect the soft part of his sole and he should be good in about a week - so I moved the girls out of the top paddock and fenced off a smaller area for the boy where it is nice and dry and put him in this morning - he went berko!!!!! Lame - you would never have guessed - pigrooting, and galloping around, cantering piroughettes like they were going out of fashion and having a ball all the time I'm having a fit in case he hurts himself - he can be such a knob - so then of course hes sweating like crazy and then he just has to rub against the trees so there goes his mane!  I give up!

Anyway Ive checked on him and alls good, good job he knocks up easy and reverts to being a couch potato - DD informs me he has spent the better part of the day ASLEEP!!!!!

So work is busy but I am bored with it and I have an interview on Thursday afternoon for a full time role - a 9 day fortnight - ok money - but I am worried about parking as getting to the office will be a bit of  a problem! anyway we shall see.  Take care and try to catch yus in chat!

AMM, sure sounds like things are a bit looney in the land down under.  I had to laugh about your description of your boy going "berko" in the paddock you made for him.  I think it goes for all horses - they sure can be knobs when the mood takes 'em.

For those of you whom I was chatting with this afternoon, I had no troubles with my Sunny-girl.  She even lowered her head for me to put her halter on when I went to get her.  She inhaled her grain with the corn oil - so I guess she really is NOT getting enough to eat on just spindly grass and that grass hay.  After she ate we worked a little - she let me stick my fingers in the corners of her mouth with a minimal amount of head tossing.  Once she realized I wasn't going to let her go, she quit.  Then I got the empty wormer tube and rubbed that all over her nose and lips.  And she even let me slide the tip into the corner of her mouth!!! WAHOO!!! At which point I stopped and praised her and gave her a couple horse cookies.  Then as a further treat, I hand grazed her around the yard for about 20 minutes.  She didn't really want to go back into the pasture, though, LOL, she wanted to stay outside the fence with me.  I think the others have been picking on her a little - she's got a big 'ol bite mark on her left hip.  Ah well, horse politics, what can you do?

Maybe I'll catch some of you in Chat later :)

YAY Blue!!!   Sounds like a great day with Sunny!

SP - Are you all packed and ready to go?

It's a yucky, rainy, cold day here.....bleh.

Amm - I so love to read your post and all your quirky sayings. LOL. I hope the fires are getting under control. It's so nice that your group has done so much but I totally understand that there has to be a limit to all your giving. Sorry to hear about the boy and his soft sole problem. What are they doing about the infection that is in there? Have you concidered letting his feet rest for a bit without shoes and putting him in boots? Just a thought. But at least he gave you a quick picture of his talents that are all pent up inside him waiting for you to execute them. LOL.

Blue - So glad that everything worked out and you didn't end up fighting with her. And from what you say about her being a bit bullied out in the pasture, that could be a cause for her weight loss. She may be just a bit stressed and thats where her probiotics will help her. I had used ProBios but had to switch to Fast Trac as Glis doesn't like the powder form of ProBios.

As for me, I'm not packed yet but I have started to get things around. So much to do, so little time as they say. LOL. Tomorrow night I have to go with all the DD's to get my first pedicure. Not my choice but it was their gift to me at Christmas. That poor girls is gonna earn her money. I work in my sock feet here and later I'll put my barn boots on for work at the barn. They should be nice and dirty for her. HAHA. All this for the sake of wearing sandles pools side. Well I'm sure I'll be catching some of you in Chat and hopefully my boss can find something to do other than talking to me. LOL

I'm baaa-aack.  I had to do quite a bit of reading in order to catch up with everything here...

T, big happy face here for Norah Grace and very, very sad face for Destiny.  I am so glad you have your baby girl to occupy your heart and thoughts. I'm sure she is beautiful, but we need proof!  Pictures, please! 

AMM, I am sooo jealous of your DD.  Getting PAID to learn reining, darlin', things are indeed upside down on your side of the world... 

7-I do hope you find Otis, I have had missing dogs before and it is hard to concentrate on anything else.  My black Lab (another Lab story) ran off during a thunderstorm when we lived in Virginia and he was gone a month!  I kept getting reports from people who had seen him in town, out in the woods, miles from home.  Finally one day DH was driving to work and spotted him sitting on someone's porch surrounded by little dogs.  When he heard the car he came running.  Poor thing was so skinny and had worn the pads off all four feet.  I think he slept for 2 weeks straight after he got home.  Keep the faith girl.

rr-lovely Lab story.  I, however, would have stolen it back from the evil one.  You could have dressed all in black and waylaid your ex somewhere along the way.  Could have been a good movie plot, you know. 

Sp, I hope you and DH are improving.  And when you come to Sedona, you be sure to let me know!  I am only about 30 minutes away and would love to meet for lunch!

Oh. SH, you can stop holding your breath now...

Thanks everyone for tyhe well wishes and condolences :D

as for pictures.....

Norah and dh

Norah sleeping

Norah and DD

Norah and I

Hopefully that will hold you for a little while ;)

We are still trying to decide whether DH is going to accept Destiny's sister or turn our training money into a horse or if he is going to just totally give up on horses. I will keep you posted :(

Oh T - Norah is absolutely beautiful.

T, beautiful pics of your family.  You and the DH make cute kids.

AMM sorry to hear that your boy is laid up for a while.  Hope he recovers quickly.

Hopefully I will catch some of you in chat at some point today.  I am home with some sort of sinus crud, maybe an infection, definitely hurts.  I'll check in to chat when I am not asleep.

Apparently lost animals are contagious.  BF called me on Mon evening in tears -- his kitty that I gave him got out and disappeared.  We're trying everything -- flyers, phone calls, traps, spotlighting, hand searches -- and kitty is chipped but no luck so far.  Keep your fingers crossed, he is crazy about that cat.  :-(

Wow - sorry to hear about BF's kitty Solaris.

I know how frantic he must be -- I was a basket case when Panda disappeared during my move to the new house last summer. I searched both houses from top to bottom, scoured the woods near the new house, thinking he may have snuck out the garage as we were lugging furniture in or something (with his broken foot in a splint, in a tropical storm, no less)

After three days, I heard a little mew in my new office area and he came slinking out from behind a filing cabinet, where he had apparently spent the last three days in hiding!

 I hope your BF finds the kitty.

T - Norah is absolutely beautiful....those are all GREAT pics

RC - Thanks for the encouraging words.  I haven't given up.  I have expanded my search the past couple of days.

DD - Hope you get to feeling better....sinus thingys are the worst.

rr - Hope you weren't  too hard on William

Solo - I'm so sorry about BF's kitty.  I can SO relate right now.  If you want to send me a PM w/a pic, when I daily check CL and other sites including shelter sites...I could keep an eye out for the kitty too.

 My little dd had her first REAL riding lesson yesterday at the lesson barn.  She is SO proud of herself.  She rode for an entire hour!!  Our instructor has said that dd could probably participate in a week of summer camp this year!  She is really excited, because the instructor told her last year that she would have to be 5 and she is only 4.  I will be having a lesson with Calypso in a couple of hours......hopefully, it will be better than last week.

Thanks, holcomb, that is a sweet offer, but kitty lives in KS w/ BF, so unless you are checking Kansas City craigslist, I don't think he's run all the way to NC.    Bad Rollie, come home (and your puppy too!!).

oh poo, solo.  I just made the assumption it was nearby, since ya'll had been spotlighting and looking for him....silly me....had a blonde moment.  If I had thought about it, I knew that.

I have been getting a couple of nasty, mean responses from CListers...trying to tell me how irresponsible I am!?!?!  EH....who cares what they think, I'm not calling off my search ~ I've just expanded it!!!!!

Sorry JG and SH for bailing so fast yesterday, I had to deal with an important phone call that I didn't know how long would take and I didn't want to be distracted w/all the good conversation here.

I had my lesson yesterday.  I cheated and rode Lea instead of Calypso (she wouldn't come and Lea was just begging for some attention).  Lea is my heart.  I haven't ridden her much in the past 2-3 months because she has had ouchy feet.  She was AWESOME.  She tries so hard to please and is so quiet about it.  Afterwards, I gave her some peppermints....OMG, she sucks them (pucker face and all) I was laughing so hard.

Hope to catch up w/some of you later.

Oh yeah  hope you're feeling better DD

and SP, are you all ready for your trip?  You leave tomorrow right?  Have tons of fun

Welcome back, RC.  You were never gone from our thoughts.  Now that life is settling a bit, stop in chat more often.

T, Norah is so prescious.  Those are wonderful pics of each family member with Norah.  She will certainly know she was loved upon her arrival.

AMM, hope the boy's foot heals quickly. 

DD has a new job working for a fairly well known trainer in our area.  With that 10 hours a week in addition to all her other activities, we barely see her anymore.  Just rushes in, asks for money, and she is gone.