Another Update--Go me!!

Hello All...it is me again and I have another update for you. It is kind of lengthy, but there is a lot of humor.

This weekend was very eventful for our family. Staring with Friday night. Well Friday night I was able to find some medicine for Jacob's hamster Baby. She had gotten sick Wednesday. I think it was a cold, but I am definitely not a vet for little critters. Anyway, we gave her the medicine and left her in the small bathroom to stay warm (in her cage). Saturday morning we got up and went to the farm to hang out for a while. We had a GREAT time. We got Thunder out to handle him because that is what you are supposed to do with a colt. I am told the more you put hands on them the better they are when they are older. So...into the round pin we went with Luke. He wasn't on the same page as us though as he thought playing tag was fun (he was the taggee and Luke the tagger). That was really funny for a little while. Well, being the "cowboy" of the family Luke got a lariat (a rope with a lasso on the end) to "catch" Thunder and allow us to put a halter on him and let him get used to being walked around. Well, in the manner of a stallion (stud) colt he acted like an idiot and managed to cut his leg and I mean bad. So fun was over for the time being and medical attention started. Remember now that this colt has still not been caught. We still have to catch him and manage to now banage his wound. Thank goodness I had decided to buy treats when we stopped for propane. Horses apparently like peppermints and I learned today that they can have actual peppermints from the store. HALLELUJAH!!! Less money for those and it is Christmas. Looks like all of our babies are getting candy canes for Christmas. Back to the ding dong colt...Well we did catch him and manage to banage his leg. It took 3 of us and a stall to do it though. Thank goodness he had been vaccinated in the spring for tetnus. No vet needed. Another big HALLELUJAH!!

Well after that fiasco Luke told me to go catch my horse, Pilgram! I got him into the pin and managed to get him caught. We hung out for a while and I talked to him. He loved on me and I on him. I love that horse. He is absolutely the sweetest thing. So Luke comes out to the pin to inform me that we will start breaking my horse and he won't be doing the riding...I will.... HA HA HA HA HA I laughed at him. I consider myself a good rider, but breaking a horse is something that I have never done, didn't think I would ever do, didn't really have a desire to do. How wrong I was. Luke was right...he wasn't riding, I was. We got to the middle of the ring and got set. Luke started to give me a leg up on the horse (no saddle, no bridle, just shipping halter and bareback). Needless to say Pilgram wasn't real wild about it and moved. Try #2 wasn't successful either. So you know the saying...third time is a charm. Well apparently Pilgram hasn't heard that one. Third time wasn't any better than the first 2. Luke decided that it would work better if Pilgram layed down. Rodeo move 1. He loops a lead rope around his front foot and around his neck pulling it up and causing him to lay down (it wasn't as easy as that, but that is it in a nutshell). Luke then tells me to come and talk to Pilgram and pet him..I do so..and then he says get on him and he will stand him up. HA HA HA...Well I did it because he said it would be OK. We stood up and he did GREAT!!! I loved it. We rode for about 20 minutes and I was in hog heaven. He did so good. I think he was happy too. Thanks to my hubby for making that happen.

We left and came home Saturday evening. Baby seemed to be getting better so I gave her another dose of the medication. If she had an infection she needed it for probably 3-5 days...right? Well, apparently not for hamsters...Baby got worse throughout the night and died around 11:15 or 11:30 on Saturday night. I buried her. Jacob knew before he went to bed that there was the possibility that she would die before he got up. Luke and I had also told him that if she did die we would let him go get another one. I guess that makes me mom of the year for him.

Sunday morning, we got up and went to early service for the 4th week in a row (that makes me so excited). The kids get there and literally run to Sunday School. I have never seen them that excited to go anywhere. Well when we returned home from church I had missed a call from my mom-in-law. Go figure I leave my phone at home and chaos ensues. The bandage on the wound was too tight and Thunder couldn't put any weight on his leg. We had to change clothes in less than 5 minutes and back out the door. We got to the farm in record time. We managed to wash the wound and rebandage the thing and restall the colt. Then I got to ride again. I thought it was going to be a repeat of the day before. Not so. Pilgram was easier to catch than the day before and he seemed a little more lovey. Well...he should have been...he must have had a plan and worked on it all night long for when I returned. We managed to mount without laying down and we did have a bridle with a bit this time. He did manage to at some point, because this is new to him, to break part of the headstall and then manage to jerk away from Luke. Yea...I am now running toward a fence with no control what so ever. I have mane in hand with half the reins. I was not the most optimistic at this point. Well he did manage to slow down and hang a hard left at the fence line...I almost stayed on...but regrettably I did not. I hit the ground. The good news is that I am not hurt..the horse stopped and backed up so that was good. I did get back on for about 15 minutes and then I was done.
I had a good time minus the falling off part. I have figured out that hitting the ground isn't so bad, but the falling part (the air in the middle) is just the worst part. I will repeat the whole riding thing later this week and will update then, but for now that was my weekend. Have a great day