17 December 2022

Still Blizzarding

Today was the first nice snow day!
Feeding took a normal amount of time and the cows were happy to come out of their quickly shrinking shelter. The milk cows still needed water hauled to them. We’ll try taking them out a different gate and moving them to water that way this afternoon.
The kids went out to explore the giant drifts in the tree row. They are almost as tall as the trees and from the top we can look past the trees and get our first glimpse of the outside world that we’ve had for days.
The corn stalks caught some snow. That’s why people leave stubble, to catch the snow and provide moisture for next summer.
They didn’t catch all the snow. That’s why it is so deep anywhere there’s shelter.
From the top of the drifts we watched my husband head out with the snow blower. Trying to dig his way to the highway, then to clear his sisters driveway. Our driveway wasn’t bad. Drifts covered the road the whole way to the highway.
The highway was open. For a little ways. As far as people had had to clear to get feed to their cattle. My friend had given it a try to see if she could get to town. She confirmed that it was clear from those peoples house as far as their cows. The snow plows are focusing on busier roads. Nothing on this one has been touched.
Category: Cows, Family, Farming, Horses | LEAVE A COMMENT
16 December 2022

What a difference a day makes.
Not like over night, but during the day. The wind died down a bit. Or the snow has blown to where it is going to blow. The sun was shining and the sky as blue this morning as it was this afternoon. Not that you can tell.
The drifts that were as big as I had ever seen yesterday were bigger today. The cows were tired. They have shelter and food but the constant snow and cold was taking its toll. I feel awful for cows that people can’t get to. There are people who have been digging all day, all day for the last few days, trying to get to cows. We’re lucky to have ours home, close, and equipment that can reach them.
The milk cows are trapped in their nice sheltered place. That’s the problem with shelter. It shelters snow too and drifts build. I’ve been hauling water to them. They have their bale and are good except for water.
I let the horses up to the barn this morning. I was going to let them in. Rust didn’t even hesitate, he jumped right through the chest high snow bank after me when I called. That got them near the barn, but not in it. That last snow bank was chest high and wide. Much wider than the one he jumped through for me. None of them would try it.
It was better sheltered next to the barn and I hauled the last of the hay I had put away in the barn out to them.
When we went out tonight the horses happily left their sheltered place and ran back out to their pen.
Hopefully the wind stays down and we can dig out and have it stay dug out for more than a few minutes.
Category: Cows, Family, Farming, Horses | LEAVE A COMMENT
15 December 2022

Blizzard Forth Day

Today is the worst day yet. It could just be that I’m getting tired. The cattle are getting tired. The long cold and wind is starting to wear on us all. Digging out the same gate over and over again, more snow every time, to get to the cows gets old.
So many things to be grateful for, and I am, so very much. My husband is home with me and the kids, not having to be off somewhere else working. We get to work together, which means we also get to rest together in between. He is capable of fixing the equipment when it breaks so we can keep taking care of the animals.
We have that big equipment to dig out and to help us make sure the cattle are cared for. The cattle have good shelter and there is plenty of feed to keep them happy and warm. Our house is snug and warm. We haven’t lost electricity yet! For the first few days we figured it would be when, not if.
But the wind.
It never stops.
Any path that is cleared gets blown back in in minutes. The drifts are huge. Some taller than I ever remember seeing. Even in shelter the blown snow sifts down from the sky. A fine mist that gets in your lungs. We aren’t going to lose cattle to the cold and snow, we’ll lose them to lung problems afterwards.
Although we have had our first loss. A calf who laid down and died in the middle of the corral. No idea why or what. This will weed out the weak.
We had planned to have calves weaned a couple of weeks ago. One thing or another has kept us from doing it. This storm being one of them. Sometimes it’s good not to get everything done on time. The stress and not having as good of shelter would have been worse for them.
We dug our way out to the bulls this morning. They have shelter, but ran out of hay. It was a fight and some impressive digging. The lane we would have been feeding calves up, had they been weaned, is blown completely shut. Now it’s blocked even more with the round about path that was the easiest way to get to bulls.
The dairy herd wouldn’t walk through a waist high drift to get to water. So I broke through it for them then chased them through. And dug out their trough for grain. Now I need to go back out and make sure they went back to their hay.
The effort of going out and facing that wind again is daunting. My arms ache from digging. My face is wind burnt. My legs don’t ever want to face another snow drift.
But, I have happy children playing at their computers, after spending the morning helping feed and playing in the snow. I got to lay around this afternoon and take a nap! We’re warm, and full, and life is good!
Category: Cows, Family, Farming, Horses | LEAVE A COMMENT
30 July 2022

Equestrian Authors Podcast

Talking is amazingly hard.

It seems like it would be an easy thing. Sit at the computer for an hour and talk about horses, training, and books. By the time we finished I was beat. It was worth it though.

Getting to interview for the Equestrian Author Podcast was a lot of fun and hopefully good for both the book and the Academy.

I wanted to get it down here so it could be found again in the  future without having to search too hard.

https://www.carlykadecreative.com/blog/episode-108-on-understanding-horse-whorls-benefits-of-trick-training-with-noche-miller-equestrian-author-spotlight-podcast

Category: Books, Horses | LEAVE A COMMENT
9 May 2022

Riding Lessons

A local lady has been holding weekly riding lessons for the 4H kids. It’s a group lesson to help with basic horsemanship. The kids enjoyed the one we’ve made it to immensely. They do much better listening to someone else than they do for me. I also don’t think of the great fun games to play! We are so lucky that she is willing to give her time to help the children.
The best part of it came later, well after the lesson.
I got the horses out and both children happily climbed on. We were going to go out for a ride, but the kids wanted to play games, like they did at the lesson, first! Alright. We could sure do that. I got out a barrel, a cone, and some rings. They proceeded to play.
Riding his little mare up to the barrel my son narrated what he was doing. “Stop by the barrel, pet my horse so she knows that she did a good job, put the ring on the cone”.
How wonderful is that? Not only do the kids get help learning to ride but they are all getting a small dose of reward based training mixed in there. Not a big hard to swallow one but a perfect little serving, mixed in so smoothly that it doesn’t come across as anything but a matter of course.
That is how the world is changed.
Category: Horses | LEAVE A COMMENT
6 December 2021

Before The Snow

Yesterday morning started out nice. We rushed to get outside before the predicted snow. Loosely bundled we let the horses out. Rusty stood patiently, halter already on, and waited. Giving The Goblin Child her halter I sent her to put it on their horse.
She doesn’t do this regularly. Something we need to work on.
It was so fun to watch her struggle to get the pieces figured out and in the right places. At first she firmly ordered 8 to get away. She was doing it and didn’t need help.
As she fought her battle Rusty smiled frantically at the camera, wind blew, Harvey, left behind, screamed. The chaos was real.
After struggling a bit her tune changed and she was asking for help. Together they were able to get the halter on their very patient little mare.
Proud of themselves and a job very well done we headed off for a brief chilly ride as dark clouds blew in and the snow came much earlier than expected.
Category: 8, Goblin Child, Horses | LEAVE A COMMENT
4 November 2021

This kid.
This mare.
I had thought she was going to be my daughters horse. They’ve all proved me wrong. My son enjoys her zippy quick moving ways. We all enjoy her quiet, dependable, completely trustworthy ways. She’s a saint.
Not vaulting but still gymnastics on horse back.
Category: 8, Horses | LEAVE A COMMENT
17 October 2021

Selling Books

This is so exciting to me.
Being in the top 100 horse care books on Amazon since Understanding Horse Whorls was released is pretty great. I looked to see my book there, because how cool is that? I know it’s not number one or anything, I would never dream of reaching that status. Top one hundred is awesome enough for me.
The thing that made this even more exciting is seeing Nashon Cook’s book Being With Horses just ahead of me! He is an amazing trainer. I’ve been watching the release of his book thinking how great it was. How he was going to sell so many copies and I wished I could be like him.
Now here we are. Right next to each other. How cool is that. I feel almost famous.
Of course there’s a unicorn coloring book way ahead of us both but hey, who wouldn’t want to color unicorns. I’m not threatened 😉
Category: Horses | LEAVE A COMMENT
7 October 2021

It’s Official! Again

The book, my book, Understanding Horse Whorls is available. Again.

It was released some time ago. In the spring maybe? As an ebook. That went very well. Sold copies all over the world. Lots of people asked for a print version though. And there were lots more things I was still learning that I wanted to add. So, I started adding, and I started reformatting, all the things it took to get it to print form. Then there was more editing, fiddling with the cover, all the stuff. It took a long time. We were also busy with the other summer stuff and my normal work I needed to do so there wasn’t a lot of time to work on it. Thankfully the kids went back to school 😉

After a going through a few proof copies with all the waiting to be delivered that that calls for I think I’ve fiddled with it enough. All that I’m going to at lest. Until people start pointing out the errors that we all have missed. Then there will be some more fiddling.

To see the listing click here!

Category: Horses | LEAVE A COMMENT