Quad has made it through his colic! Phew!

This was a bad one.  His colic wasn't nearly as bad as Cali's and she didn't survive.  I miss her every day.  He's back to his normal routine:  kicking his corral and making ugly faces at Sunni!

We are switching him to Bermuda/alfalfa pellets, with a little Timothy added.  HOPEFULLY he won't fling his pellets all over the mats. YES, he has 2 huge rubber mats!  The feed store has some, and they are $50.00 each, which I can't afford right now, but as soon as I get my first paycheck, I'm going to buy MORE.  Every horse has at least 1 rubber mat under their feeder, but Quad has 2 already.  Either that, or let his manure pile up and he can eat off his manure!

  He's the horse that our grandson wants to ride, the one who will start kindergarten next Tuesday!   :-)  So, I HAVE to keep Quad safe and healthy!  :-)  I didn't sleep for 3 nights worrying about him, goofy boy!

Quad standing patiently for the farrier. He's so used to so many things!

Quad has colic...

Quad has colic (again)...he had an episode a couple of years ago.  This one seems to be much worse...he definitely is in pain, even after a visit from the vet, and a shot, and a mineral oil tubing.  He HAS passed some poop, but not enough.

Please keep him in your prayers.  Here he is enjoying a romp in the arena, from earlier this month.  His head was down today, he was stretching and looking at his side...

Thank you.
Cheryl Ann

A new school year

A new school year begins today.  Just like the kids, my stomach is in knots.  What will they be like?  Surely they won't be like the group last year that nearly did me in?

Our weather has been cooperating, at least!  We had monsoon moisture yesterday.  It actually poured over our house 3x in the morning before I had to leave for a prep day and it was cloudy all day.  More of the same today and temps only in the double digits.  The usual high for August is 108, so that's a break.  And, more "cooler" temps for the next week!  Whoo, whoo!  I included this photo from the Toro Peak webcam, which is at 8,000 feet in the Santa Rosa mountains.  The webcam takes photos from all directions, all day and night.  This was taken a couple of afternoons ago, as the monsoon clouds gathered in our valley.  Gotta LOVE those clouds!

Visit to the horse ranch

Well, I FINALLY got to have a visit with the horses yesterday.  Unfortunately I also drove by a fatal accident up on Highway 74 involving a Toyota Rav and a motorcycle.  The motorcyclist didn't make it.  I saw him lying face down on the highway.  I stopped and asked the people if they were able to call out (there are zones up there with NO cell coverage), and they said yes.  Minutes later, I saw a fire truck coming up from Palm Desert and another one coming down from Pinyon.  Alas, another life lost on that damn highway because PEOPLE WON'T SLOW DOWN!  I was pretty shaken by this accident, since it happened right before I drove by and a life was lost.

By the time I got to the ranch, the horses were neighing in their greeting!  :-)  I let Scout out into the arena and put SWAT on Sunni.  He actually cooperated!  In fact, he was the most joyous in his greeting!  He nuzzled me, he nuzzled my hair, he wouldn't leave me alone!  I would have let him out next, but by the time I cleaned out water troughs, 2 hours had gone by and it was noon and it was HOT!  I headed back to the desert for lunch and a siesta!

Scout, of course, was her usual adorable self.  She didn't pull on the lead rope at all and was a GOOD GIRL!

I'm glad I got to see the horses.  School starts on Thursday this week, so maybe one afternoon before then I can return and see them again before the weekend.

More Arizona photos

One afternoon we drove out to the fire tower near Black Canyon Lake.  Instead of a herd of wild horses there, we spotted a herd of cattle.  Last year it was horses.  This year it was cattle.  We did spot some horses out near the road on our way out, however.  The grandson has never seen a fire watch tower like this one before.  He kept asking, "Why can't we go up in it?"  (a 5 year old...sigh...) I tried to explain to him that the gate was locked, but he wanted to climb up its stairs RIGHT NOW!  Then we drove out to the lake and he wanted to go fishing!  Such is the world of a 5 year old!

Arizona trip

We spent a week over in Arizona before returning home and undergoing a week of training this past week.  We like to rent a cabin up on the Mogollon Rim, near Heber-Overgaard.  It's off the highway with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a large living room, and a complete kitchen (also a washer/dryer).  And, it is up in the pines at 7,000 feet!

This year we invited our son and his family to join us (a 5 year old)...We all spent the night in Phoenix, near the Mayo Clinic (and WHOLE FOODS).  We stocked up on lamb and beef and headed up the mountain.

We heard thunder the first afternoon and our grandson was surprised.  I don't believe he has heard it before (certainly not as loud as it is up there!).  There is a pond for catch and release fishing there on the premises and he and his dad went there a couple of times.  It's a great place for taking walks, too, so I walked every day.

After a couple of days, birds started showing up and 2 squirrels who fought and argued over peanuts.  I awoke the first morning to hear cattle mooing and coyotes communicating.  Ahhhhhhh!!!!

Here are some pics from our week up there.