We have had a mild winter (so far). We saw temps in the 50’s for a few days, and that is very unusual for January, but I’ll take it.
I contacted Katie about starting Tweed back up, and she asked if my arena was ready for it. I sent her a couple of photos.
It needs to be dragged, but otherwise, yes, it’s ready to go. We made a date for Friday morning.
We had the most amazing sunset last night. Just stunning. The entire sky was lit up, all directions.
It gets dark around 4:20, which is early, but it has caused us to slow down and read more and even watch a couple of WWII series: Band of Brothers and Masters of the Sky, most recently. It’s good to be reminded of the sacrifices that generation made. Sad, however, that most of them have passed on now. My sons recommended the shows to us, and I’m glad they did.
I tried a new thing the other day: flute yoga. I wanted to see if I could hold the poses and still play the music. It was either going to end disastrously or well, but if it came to saving the flute or myself, I planned to save the flute. 😆 It ended up well for both of us. You CAN do yoga and play your flute, in case you were curious about that, too.
When I play my flute, I position the stand to look out over the turnout and Mt Spokane. The best of all worlds.
Back in the barn, I added wet food to the nightly barn cat routine (at the suggestion of Aurora.) Tuffy, who has never had wet food, LOVED it.
This is where I usually find Wild Dan, nowadays, but he is a killer, and spring will be a different story entirely. He’s probably the only one of the three who still has the instinct. Fair guess there won’t be any mice in my barn.
The fog rolled in this morning. At first, we couldn’t even see the barn. Here are some photos from out and about.
Hopefully, it will clear out by Friday.
Flute yoga? That's got to be difficult to control your breathing while holding poses. What a great idea. My daughter's cat, Purrsephone, who stayed with us for a few months also was not interested in wet food. That's just odd. She's the first cat I've ever met who wouldn't touch it, and now you've got a couple who won't. What's wrong with these silly cats? I hope Friday is a gorgeous day and things go well with Tweed.
ReplyDeleteI found that breathing through the flute helped me hold the poses longer, or got my mind off it. Haha. That is so strange that some cats don’t like wet food. Grady is probably just copying Dan.
DeleteThe fog is still just as bad as this morning. I can’t see the barn. Ugh. I don’t know if it matters much for what we will be doing, working on a program to start up again. I don’t want to overwork Tweed on his first day, so I’m thinking very light work. Actually, I’m not sure what we’re going to do. I just want to get started with Katie guiding us.
Flute yoga sounds amazing! Have fun in your lesson. We’re having a January thaw too but my ring is too soft.
ReplyDeleteHopefully yours will be back to working order soon. Although, we still have a lot of winter left.
DeleteYou must be looking forward to getting back to riding! Seems like just a short break.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos, especially the sunset mountain view ~ wow!!! Fog is so moody. I spy a little pony added to your herd. Maybe I already knew this, haaa!!
Flute Yoga sounds much more challenging. Do you ever play music for your herd?
As for the wet cat food, your cats might change their mind when hungrier or flavor related. I quickly found out my cats do not like Turkey or Sardine flavors. Blew my mind. Dead kill is okay, but no thanks to Turkey? Their fav's appear to be Whitefish/Salmon/Chicken. I stay away from Beef & Gravy. Used to give my animals the runs back in the day.
We do have one cat that prefers dry over wet food. After years, Tinkerbell eats a little wet food most days. Our male cat finishes it all up. I split one of the smaller cans (under a buck) three ways, just enough for a come-home treat.
I am going to try different flavors. So far, they do come running when they hear me enter the sanctuary, but I’m not sure why. They must be habituated to it from over the years. Tuffy isn’t leaving the room at all anymore.
DeleteThe pony is little Lily. We’ve had her for about 15 years, so she must be 26 now. She is used for the grandchildren to learn to groom and lead. Otherwise, she is a pasture ornament. A friend of mine was going through a divorce back then, and had to find a place for her horses. She brought them here, and I ended up buying Lily because she’s such a sweetheart.
I am looking forward to getting on some sort of plan for Tweed. I hope to connect with Katie twice a month from now on out. I’d like for her to do some riding / softening, and then me do the same. It helps me to see her in saddle on him and to give me an assessment of where we are and need to be. 😃
Beautiful sunset!
ReplyDeleteTuffy might have loose teeth, so wet food would be easier for him to eat. I found that my cats didn't care for the wet food that is shreds with gravy (all flavours) so the pate is what I buy. Also, they don't like cooked beef but will eat chicken. Go figure!
Hope you got a good session with Tweed, I sure wish I had someone to ride with. Now that I am getting old, it is much safer to have someone else present, but we kind of live in the middle of nowhere. My option is to haul to an arena, but with Gussie being 23 this year and possibly in foal (jury is still out on that!) my riding days are dwindling, sadly. Unless of course I happen to acquire another horse! Hmmm.... At least the foal(s) will keep me busy this year.
I think I need to try a different brand of food, for sure. And I think you’re right about Tuffy’s teeth. He is really enjoying wet food and I bet he will gain weight with it, which he needs. Oh, you’re going to have fun with the foals. That is a whole level of horsemanship, too, and it benefits future owners of those babies.
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