Aubie’s May 19th Friday Night Conversation

While Cloud finds nothing acceptable except grass/hay, feed and Dumor Apple & Carrot flavored treats (no real apples or carrots pass her inspection) her half sibling TJ will eat anything and everything. I USED to throw table scraps over the fence until I caught him eating them one day (like moldy stuff I had dumped from cleaning the fridge). I thought wild critters were cleaning up what I threw out. How he didn't colic I don't know but it had no ill effects on him.

I'm not good about keeping detailed records since we quit breeding/selling. Back then I always kept a calendar with large squares that I wrote most things on and a file in my desk for all receipts and vet reports. I also have a (crap CRS moment) zippered folder thingy that has clear sleeves that holds each horses papers and any other important thing that pertains to that particular horse along with some pictures of said horse. Hmmm...maybe binder is the word I'm looking for but it's fancier than just a typical one.

Been through a bank robbery. Scared the bejesus out of me and don't care to ever experience it again. No gun involved just a guy dressed as a woman who sat a wrapped box on the counter with a note that said there was a bomb in it. Once the bomb squad came and took it outside to open it, it was a shoebox stuffed with kleenex. Problem is at the time you don't know that it's not real.

I've never really followed the D.B. Cooper case.

I have to go tomorrow (later today) for all the pre-op testing so dinner will be wherever we stop and eat.

Weather has been nice some days and rainy others. Today was nice, yesterday was overcast but dry and Tuesday it rained all day. Fri. night through Sat. is supposed to be more rain.

Good news is I've been able to stop the pain meds so am alert enough to get back to doing my own barn chores. As long as I don't move the arm in a direction it doesn't want to go there isn't severe pain anymore. More like just a mild to medium strength pounding headache only in my arm instead of my head. It's slower going and scooping poop is a little awkward but it gets done. This way I can give the hubs a break for a couple of weeks before he has to take back over for me after surgery. The horses missed me during that little break so now they beat feet to the barn as soon as they see me coming. I figure I have a couple of more days before they start ignoring me again and I have to holler, whistle (a pitiful attempt at it anyway) and pound a can on the gate while they slooowly mosey their way in from the pasture. LOL

1. Mints are as bad as it gets nowadays. I remeber Toby being fed a toffee by a non-horse person. He wasn't going to suck or chew so it went down in one. We've signs on gates to stop people feeding them inappropriate food.

2. Legally we have to keep records of vaccines, medicines, wormers etc. Passports show whether they are in the food chain or have been opted out and it dictates what they can be given. It's part of European law as they eat the meat.

5. Supper/tea - Toast for breakfast, homemade lentil soup for lunch and a tuna steak for tea.

6. Weather - It's been dry with cloudy or clear blue skies. There's been a strong wind at times which leached some of the heat. Today is dry and sunny, 18C/64F.

7. Everything else -

A postal carrier lost my order on Wednesday. Phone calls to customer services and arguments about the delivery photo not being my house had me frustrated to no end. The retailer was amazing though and immediately sent out a replacement. Of course that's when the carrier found the original. Now, I'm trying to organise the return of a box.


I've had meetings and paperwork to prepare for summer events and ongoing projects. I'm working from home today.


At home, my garden is very dry so the grass isn't growing enough to need cutting every week. I'll drop by the supermarket and town tonight. It'll save me going food shopping over the weekend.

I'm going to archery tomorrow morning and to the yard at night and on Sunday.

1. My friend's horse ate a mouthful of batteries - luckily my friend was right there and got her to spit them out immediately, it could've been bad I imagine. If I remember right, her horse grabbed them from her grooming tote that must've had battery powered clippers along with some stray horse treats that lured the curious nose in...

My horse tried eating a check for my farrier once. She sucked it right in just like an ATM machine, quite literally eating my money.

2. I keep records on my phone as either PDF's that the vet sends, or pictures that I take of the paper copies. I also have a binder that contains vet records for all animals. When I stilled showed regularly, I had copies of my Coggins printed and stashed everyone - in my grooming tote, glove box, garment bag - everywhere. The easiest way to ruin a show day is to show up and realize the copy of your Coggins didn't make it into the truck.

5. We will see. Today my friend and I leave for the middle school equestrian show that I've been helping coach for the past two weeks. I'll be glad once tomorrow is over and done with, so I can wipe my hands clean of it all and not look back. I have no words to adequately describe how frustrating coaching has been for only three practices and it isn't the kids that are the problem. I care so much about those kids and the horses they are riding, and will be sad to say goodbye - but it isn't worth butting heads and having to make a case for each and every thing that I say to the actual 'coach' - especially when the things in question are horse in pain (LAME!!!) and kids that have had their confidence ripped apart.

It makes me sad. I did middle and high school equestrian growing up, and it was such a great experience that taught me so much - accountability, responsibility, sportsmanship, grit, all of it. I wish all of these kids could experience what a more positive team experience is like.

Before I forget:

@JCnGrace: Sending prayers of healing for your upcoming surgery.

@pasomountain: it would be cool if we find out what animals print those were.

@Caledonian: Are you allowed to tell us what movie it is or the stars in the movie? Probably not, but it was worth a shot!

@walkinthewalk: Oh, our fearless leader, thanks for putting together this week's post!

🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎

1. Things your horse eats that it probably shouldn’t.

... Not that these are necessarily shouldn't eat, just sort of weird eats.
Our first horse loved atomic fireballs and cinnamon altoids.
Our current horse has shown a fondness for tabasco. He also loves our Starbucks traditional mistos which are half coffee and half steamed whole milk.

2. Now do you keep track of vet, etc appointments and the records for each of those visits?

The only paper that I keep nowadays for the horse is the Coggins test results. All our records are available upon requests from our vet for both horse and dog. I actually like our dog vet practice in that we can access our records at all times (as well as make appointments, order medicines, etc.). They always want to print something and I'm always saying I don't need that.

All appointments are on my Google calendar. Whether it's for humans or animals, if it's related to vaccinations or repeat testing, I will always note the last date the test was done. In the case of certain things, I will note all previous dates in the entry.

3. Bonnie & Clyde
... Not into them. Because I'm originally from Chicago, you have to know that we always heard about the mob there.

4. I'm with @walkinthewalk on DB Cooper.

5. Supper
... What else is new... Salmon.

6. Weather
... Pretty glorious here. We're getting towards our wet season, which theoretically starts June 1st, and then the faucets will go on where we'll have our daily afternoon rain. We've actually had it a couple times this week and we needed it.

1. Things your horse eats that it probably shouldn’t.

Not so much anymore. When I was riding Mounted Patrol, Skip’s favorite afternoon treat on break was Nutter Butter cookies. When he was younger, he was convinced he was starving and broke into the feed room quite a few times, eating alllllll the cat food, and once eating about 30 lbs of feed in one sitting. Colicked on both of those

2. Now do you keep track of vet, etc appointments and the records for each of those visits.

I have a binder that I keep all the paperwork in and keep track of appointments on my phone. I’ve had Skip a little over 18 years and I have ever vet bill/note for every visit he’s ever had.

3. The last bank Bonnie & Clyde robbed was in Stuart, Iowa. It has been purchased by a couple with the intent of turning it into a luxury Air BnB.

I live fairly close to the Texas Rangers Museum in Waco, and there’s quite a bit of Bonnie and Clyde memorabilia contained there. My mom remembers being taken to see their car once. I have read stuff and seen the movies. I felt sorry for Bonnie’s mama. She knew her daughter wouldn’t outlive her and there wasn’t one thing she could do about it.

4. D.B. Cooper

I of course have heard the stories, but haven’t looked into it enough to form an opinion as to theories.

5. Supper?

No clue

6. Weather?

We had close to 4 inches of rain so our burn ban is over and I think we are out of drought range too. Supposed to be close to 90 today. I need to bathe Skip.

7. Everything else and don’t forget pictures

My sister came and picked up Cade yesterday and left her boy Dakota to keep Skip company. One of the girls on the team is interested in Cade so he may be moving on. I have so much going on with both my kids that all things horse-related have taken a backseat. But here’s a pic of Skip and Dakota sharing the tank:




Y’all have a good weekend.

ETA: @JCnGrace, prayers for a successful surgery and complete healing.


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Good morning all! I don't have much to add to the topics, but I was looking forward to the Conversation first thing this morning and hadn't realized how important it is to me! So thanks @walkinthewalk and @aubie for continuing to unlock the door of the HF Cafe every Friday morning!

We were here in the area when DB Cooper made headlines, but I'm also not a follower. I remember more when a jet ran out of fuel and crashed at Portland international about the same era.

And then there was the time they blew up a rotting dead whale on the beach to try to get rid of it. Let's just say they haven't repeated that.

I do have an odd fascination for the 20s-30s era gangsters, not Bonnie and Clyde specifically, but living in uncomfortable proximity to a metro area that is much degraded by crime, I'm sure my interest is shaped by Hollywood and that the reality was incredibly ugly.

Favorite gangster movies: The Cotton Club, The Road to Perdition. I've read some recent novels that I really liked, but can't remember titles now! I also occasionally watch documentaries on YouTube.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the Mt. St. Helens eruption. Now THAT was memorable!

I've never known my horses to eat anything odd. The don't even chew wood. (Thankfully! The barn bears the scars of former chewers!)

I have some odd vet records stuffed in a file, but we don't see the vet that often. I figure I can just call if I need to know something.

We've been sharing the heat wave with @pasomountain but it's pretty much broken. Mornings are quite beautiful and we're headed for a pleasant cool down next week.

I have one of Dixie's formerly-waterproof rain sheets in a wheelbarrow full of water and rug wash. I will pressure wash it today and treat it with this new-to-me "303" brand marine fabric waterproofing product. I did Laddie's last week. Yesterday I threw some water on it and it definitely beaded up. None of the standard fabric waterproofing products I've used previously have worked. So, fingers crossed. I also need to go to the tractor place to get a little part for the tractor so I can till the arena footing.

Dinner, probably grill some little marinated chicken skewers. I was going to try some (frozen) catfish this week, but when I got the package home and read the label it said it was farmed in China and contained up to 10% of a solution containing tri polyphosphate. ??? I lost my appetite and the package went in the trash.

C'mon Dixieland, nobody does catfish better than you! Send some on up this way!

Happy Friday!

I can’t believe it’s Friday, once again, another week that was lightning fast.
i also can’t believe it’s almost June..


1. Trees and blueberries. For some reason he really likes trees/bushes, like no there isn’t a huge pile of nice green hay and two huge pastures of grass, nope. 🙄
Blueberries.. I have a tonnn of blueberry bushes close by one of the horse pastures and he begged for one last year so I had to give him one and honestly he liked it..


2. I have files and multiple binders with compartments that I track all vet stuff with, I write down the month/day/year, how much it cost me, what the vet did, etc, I know people now days would call it “old school” but I find it very helpful, and I have more space to write things down/ it’s easier to stay organized instead of putting it on my phone.

3. that’s cool!

4. No theories..

5. Steak..don’t know what I’ll have it with though. I got sweet potatoes sooo…maybe something with that.

6. Weather is very bum today, really cloudy and threatened to rain all morning so I put off doing some stuff and now it hasn’t even rained! URGH!
Tomorrow will be raining, ew. Next week will be in the high 70°s and 80°s, not looking forward to that lolol.

7. Not much has happened, have the day off so I’ll probably just be in the barn all day, I need to clear my head.
Like I said in my journal, I have a new trainer coming tomorrow. Every Saturday morning I’ve made it a tradition to make pancakes, even though trainer is coming really earlier you bet I’m going to get up 10x earlier than I usually do just to make me some pancakes!
Sunday I’ll probably go to church. Next week I was supposed to have a dr appointment for my knee but it got canceled.
And I have to go get some more bell boots.. darn they don’t last 4 weeks around here, I’m going to buy like 4 pairs to stock up LOL.
horse shopping update.. I got pictures of my new trainers QH he’s selling.. a little liver chestnut, he’s so handsome! If I get more serious about looking into him I’ll post the confo pics..

here’s my dude
He’s just like “wha? I know I’m handsome”
I call him my “barrel bug”😅😂


…🐎🐎🐎…
Anyway, hope everyone has a good & safe weekend!🐴…

@Horse & Dog Mom, I have a 27
year old black and white paint (companion horse) lined up. His owner is 80 and is now ill. She’s had him since he was 8. I am a very, very, soft place for elderly horses to land, even if I do
say so myself. I am very good at taking care of them, while still being responsible enough to make decisions when the time comes.

Right now my horse “nephew” is keeping Skip company. I know some people are okay with having just one horse, but Skip is really social and frets on his own.

In other news, some of y’all might remember my paint mare Jolene who went off to Colorado to be a mama to loudly colored mule babies. I have permission to share the photos. She had her little boy last night….NO COLOR! Her current owner paid for all kinds of testing at the vet check, but says it’s all a gamble anyway and he could buy every lottery ticket but one and STILL lose. He’s really happy though, said delivery went effortlessly and both are happy and healthy.





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1. My current horses are pretty picky on what they eat. I had to work with Major to get him to eat a treat.

2. I use my phone calendar for appointments. I keep a log/ledger on all rides with complete discription of what was worked on and the number the ride was with date. All wormings, shots, vet visits etc is in a section of it with a copy of the bill.

3. Bonnie and Clyde never had too much interest.

4. D.B. Cooper always figure he didn't make it as they did find some of the money in a sand bar on the river. Just a few of the bills though. The bulk of the money never surfaced.

5. Probably fried fish and homemade cold slaw

6. It's rainy and cool today in the 60*s.

7. My older sister past away about a week and a half ago and the 27th will be the celebration of life in San Antonio and we're taking the dogs so I have spent the week preping the 5th wheel to take.

Whew! Lots of unscheduled projects today!

It occurred to me this morning, that if I brought a week's worth of hay down from the loft and put it in the feed stall, I could save myself 21 trips up and down the loft ladder each week! (Duh..) I've always considered it good exercise, but currently, I think it's causing me problems. I've got kind of a bum leg from favoring it (cuz of a bum hip!) for 4-5 years, and so I use the other leg to hoist myself up the rungs while using the bum leg just for support. Since the hip's okay but the knees are toast now, I'm working on evening out the imbalances. Have to give the good leg a rest and let the bum leg catch up strengthwise!

Anyway, that triggered a big cleanout of my cob-webby, dusty, disorganized feed stall, and dragging in a pallet.

Then it was up the ladder to load three bales onto the platform and lower them down with the electric chain hoist. That'll be good for about nine days. Got those dragged into the stall and stacked on a pallet, then got all the stuff back in the stall and hung my little hay weighing "station".

When I go back out, I'll send my hay soaking tub and assorted buckets back up for storage in the loft. Fortunately I have a source of low carb hay for the foreseeable future.

Then I dragged Dixie's rain sheet out of the soak water and laid it out for pressure washing. Soaking it overnight made a huge difference! No scrubbing. It is now draped over the fence drying, and I'll spray it with water proofing tomorrow.

When I get to Laddie's heavy winter rug, I'll pressure wash it in front of the barn door, and lift it with the chain hoist to drain and dry! I can barely lift it up on Laddie when it's dry, much less when it's waterlogged! LOL!

Hubby's been getting the tiller mounted on the tractor so I can till the arena footing. It is "old" sand - been in there a long time - and it tends to turn into concrete after it dries out from the winter rains. It will stay loose now, but will be dusty! We won't be doing much to stir the dust up.

TREES TREES TREES. Returned to the barn today. Went for a short, quiet ride. A bit tired but not excessively so - I did my best to keep from overdoing it. I have been otherwise resting at home all afternoon. But after ten days of screens and books and rooms, let me tell you, it was wonderful to see a horizon, the middle distance, and trees. And of course, my buddy.

1. You know, he eats more or less anything you put in front of him - grain, beet pulp, hay, whatever - but he's quite particular about treats. He will eat horse cookies although I rarely have any; but otherwise carrots, apple, and mints. Anything else you offer him he'll either turn down outright or vacuum up and then spit directly out. I can't picture him eating anything not-food, even by accident.

2. There is a detailed chart and table for farrier visits for everyone at the barn, regardless of which farrier they use. The BO does many of his own vaccinations for his own horses, and keeps records of that. I write down in my own calendar when Jasper was seen for teeth, shots, feet, etc and I have record of the checks I pay either to the BO or to the farrier. Horse stuff is one of the only things I use paper checks for.

4. DB Cooper is a wild story. Some of, but not all of, the money being found at the riverbank suggests that that part made it down intact and someone found it. On the other hand the preponderance of circumstances - the weather, the possible landing area - suggests if Cooper jumped, he may not have survived, and the likelihood of his remains being found is low. More curious at this point is who he is and where he came from. Without a body or remains from which to draw DNA that's not likely, I don't think. I am a practical man I think. XD no conspiracies for me, just strange sad stories.

Still working on an appetite. Slowly getting better. Mornings are complicated - I feel sickest then, but I need to eat something with my morning meds or I really will throw up. But I feel better each day. I am determined to feel well enough for the beach ride. (and it's with a mom and her kid, so it may be much lower key than some). I told my trainer I will nap on the way there and nap on the way back.

The weather is high and dry. Beautiful, but I haven't been able to enjoy it much. Tomorrow, rain is coming, and a cold front but then back up and dry. Hopefully the rain will give us some moisture - we've had a red flag warning for most of the week. It's never quite as bad as it is in many of the places where other folks on here live, but fires can catch up to hikers and to businesses and houses adjacent to heavy brush.

Happy Friday! Hope everyone is enjoying some warm weather, wherever you are. It's been wonderful here!

1. Thing my horse "shouldn't" ingest: Prednisolone. Elle had her dental and shots early this week, first time with a new vet. I really liked the vet over all, but right out of the gate I had to defend the fact that my horse is permanently on a very low dose steroid for her breathing and general wellbeing -- which her previous vet signed off on without hesitation or major concern. Yes, I know there are potential (realtively rare) longterm side effects. But at 26, let's face it. "Longterm" is relative. 🤷‍♀️ The very real side effects of being ancient outweigh potential ones, in my books. And so far the only effects of this drug are: her breathing is absolutely perfect when she's on it (as in, NEVER coughs during exercise, no stubborn mucus, no congested lung sounds, totally normal respiratory rate, I could go on), and she feels younger, better, and happier in every way. The new vet came around to my case for it, eventually, and will keep her on it, phewwwww. I do NOT want to mess with Elle's so-far-perfect cocktail.

Dental went surprisingly well, though! No major findings, and still has all her chompers, so that's exciting!!!

2. I don't really keep records, as so far her needs are pretty simple. Her invoices, which I get by email every time, always detail what's been done anyhow, so I can easily look that up, and could print them off if I wanted to.

4. I think it's highly unlikely that D.B. Cooper survived the stunt. The weather was dreadful and he wasn't equipped to pull that off. I think he had a bit of a Dunning-Kruger thing going on: you don't know how much you don't know... and in his case he didn't realize that he wasn't likely to survive a jump in those conditions. If the landing didn't kill him, exposure would have. It was brutally wet, windy, and COLD when he jumped, and he had nothing on him for the elements, and he would have landed in the middle of nowhere.

5. Supper is a frozen mushroom and garlic pizza, done in my toaster oven and fancied up with chili oil and goat feta. I'm also having as much wine as I please tonight, because this has been a brutally stressful week.

My week actually started out GREAT, though! I went to a little AirBnB on a beach with my best friend, for two nights. It wasn't all that far from the barn, so she was able to have two wonderful rides on Elle -- who was a SAINT for her, absolute saint -- and otherwise, we just hung out, caught up, saw the sunset, and had a nice campfire and some beer and snacks.

It was once I got back to reality that I was slammed with a bunch of bills and complications at my business, plus we have a huge holiday weekend here, so my guy and I have been making each other cranky, crazy, and exhausted, trying to prepare for it. Ugghhhhhh. Plus my body has impeccable timing with its cycle, so I'm crampy and just generally miserable.

You know what's not miserable though? This sunset pic from my getaway!!! This is straight out of my phone camera, no edits.




And here's Elle all doped up, pre-dental, tee hee. You could have pushed her over with a feather.