One of Those Days

It was one of those days, well almost. On my way out to see the boys my battery warning light comes on in my car. I'm just about there and the voltmeter goes from 11 to 0. The car kept running but when I shut it off it wouldn't start again. Dead as a doornail. No one was a round at the ranch so I continued on with my fussing over the boys.

I groomed Cody, who was, as usual, annoyed that I took him away from his herd for something as silly as some brushing. But he could still see everyone so he was fairly calm about it.

I groomed Axel and tried my rope halter on him (that I tied my self). It fits pretty good, now I just have to cut off the extra long ends. I got out the saddle and saddled him up and went back to get my helmet. As I was coming back out I noticed Axel's hindquarters were covered in bumps. I don't remember seeing the bumps when I was grooming. They didn't seem to be bothering him and they weren't like sores so we went for a ride anyways.

Went down the road this time for our ride. Had a really nice canter in a wide ditch, went nearly the whole block, and not a single buck. Then we went out into a bean field that hadn't been plowed yet. Cantered for a quite a ways there too. We came to the end of that block and we were going to visit the mare that lived there. As we were standing across the road from the mare, a dog came across the road to see us. Axel decided the dog was going to eat him and took a 90 degree turn to the right and started running as fas as he could. All the way across the bean field until he came to a row of trees. He finally stopped. I had lost a stirrup and was bouncing around like a sack of potatos. I definitely need shorter stirrups.

So we stood there calming down a bit and I noticed that dumb dog was still there. He had chased us all the way across the field. And the owner or daughter or whoever, who had seen this all happen, didn't even bother to call her dog back. Stupid dog ended up following us nearly the whole way back to the ranch. Let's just say I was not pleased. Stupid dog nearly got me killed. Someone needs to train Axel to kick things on command ;)

So with some shakey legs (mine) we slowly walked back, stopping for some nice grassy snacks. Apparently Axel wasn't all that scared, still had his appetite after all. So when we got back to the ranch I called Sandy to see if she could come out and take me to get a new battery. I layed in the grass and watched the boys graze while I waited. 65 degrees out, not too bad of a day to be stuck outside waiting. Anyways, we got a new battery and my car started, though I think I need a new connector thingy.

We're not sure what the bumps are that Axel has, maybe hives or some sort of allergic reaction to something. Hopefully they'll be gone tomorrow. I probably can't go out there tomorrow until we figure out what's wrong with my car, unless Amy gets home and lets me use her car, but I'll give Jacque a call and see what she says he looks like in the morning. I'll have to plan to wash my brushes and stuff in case it's something contageous or something he was allergic to in the brushes. Poor big guy, he doesn't seem to annoyed by it all though.

Next weekend there might be a birthday party of little girls out to see all the horses, then hopefully Mom and Dad and maybe Grandma and Grandpa and Amy will come out that weekend to meet the boys. They haven't met them yet. The vet is due out on November 8th for shots and stuff as well. So it'll be an eventful couple of weeks