Monday, August 25, 2008

DNC 2008

Sorry for the lapse in updates for the last week or so. School is obnoxious and work has been crazy. I finally have time to update the blog, at 2:30am.

The Democratic National Convention is in town and because of that not only I, but also Cody, have been working all weekend. That is me to the left and Eric, my co-worker's husband, on the right. Cody took the picture from his wife's carriage.

Eric was my "rider" tonight. Basically he was there to run interference. His job was to keep people out of the horse's face, as crowd control, and as muscle should anything "crazy" start going down.
And what could go down? Well, so far a pipe bomb and a few riots. And to think it doesn't "officially" start until tomorrow. Our owner is unimpressed so far and has opted out of coming down to work tomorrow. This unusual circumstance does allow for a little time for Cody and I to see each other awake and allowed for a few photos to be taken.

This weekend I was driving Dolly, a big Clydesdale-Belgian cross mare. She is just shy of 18 hands high and is a lovely flaxen sorrel with full stockings and blaze face. She is "particular" but is a "been-there-done-that" kind of horse. She prefers to drive herself and for the driver to sit back and enjoy the ride. She is most "particular" at harnessing time requiring a gentle hand when setting the saddle and britchen, otherwise she gets grumpy. We got along OK once I figured out how to leave her alone. Oh, and horse cookies help too!

Moonlight, the white Percheron mare, and Mike (seen in previous entries) were out also as they are the most quiet and steady of our horses. Isn't this a great shot of Moonlight?

Cody took some great shots of the D&F Clock tower that stands on the corner of 16th and Arapahoe. The sunset really made it look lovely this evening. And he also got a nice picture of one of the Police riot vans that was cruising around the area. The cops in riot gear were hanging out the perimeter of this vehicle and looked like they were having a fairly good time. There are also patrols of police in packs of 12 walking perimeters around each block. There are more motorcycle and bicycle cops and then the 50 mounted patrol. In other words, there is a LOT of police supervision!


Things got a little hairy yesterday when someone was found with a pipe bomb which was quickly destroyed in a contained manner. A few riots broke out at the Convention Center earlier today but luckily we were out well after that mess. I am glad we will get to miss tomorrow's chaos. It was nice having little action tonight but unfortunately business was as slow.


I will be glad to bypass work and visit with Annie tomorrow. Morgan and I are going to have a nice time with that. Maybe I can get some pictures of Annie in her new harness tomorrow. I hope to work her on ground driving over the next month or two and maybe I can even hitch her up to a training cart sometime. We'll see what pans out!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Cold Front


Here are the new pictures of Annie. (I cheated and put an old picture from Payson on the last post!) All the pictures today were from Friday. It was sprinkling but the front saved the "Big" rain for today, Saturday. I went to visit today and got to help Marie move some of the big drafts from their pens as there was two inches of standing water in their pens! She was astonished and said she'd never seen rain like we've had since she's been at her facility.


Annie's pen is just fine though. You can see from the photos that it is HUGE! She can actually canter three full strides along the long sides. The run-in shed is enormous also and she cal lay down on her side spread out in it and still has room for her 150 gallon feed tub. She is dressed in her winter blanket because it has been rainy and about 50-60 degrees. I have a sheet on order so she doesn't have to wear her heavy winter blanket during mild storms like this. I also ordered a hood as she has never been through a winter and it will take the edge off of the winds and will keep her dry in rain showers.


There is a very large pasture/arena in the front of the property that I let her play in for a few minutes on Friday. She really enjoyed the large area to stretch her legs and kick up her heels. She hasn't meet the large pastures on the back 15 acres of the property yet... I will have to get videos of that adventure!


She is handling the move very well. She seems a little anxious as she hasn't been away from WEB Ranch's horses for any length of time in over a year and hasn't made fast friends with the other horses yet but is eating well and gladly meets me and Marie at the gate anytime we come to visit her. She has just about all the hay she can eat and gets grain in the mornings along with her supplements and Marie said she figured out "the lady with the food" really fast.


I sorted through all the tack today and ordered some tack hooks and Cody is going to give me some saw horses to keep the saddles on. That should about do it! Hopefully the weather will improve so I can start working her next week!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Starry eyed

She's here!!! Annie arrived here in Colorado today healthy and looking great. She is being boarded at my boss's place on the east side of town. She has a huge pen and a big Clydesdale mare for company. And to welcome her a nice cold front blew in tonight. While only down into the mid fifties, that is almost 50 degrees cooler than what she left in Arizona just two nights ago! Marie is checking on her and will blanket her if she starts shivering. Welcome to Colorado Miss Annie!


I am still baffled by Dreamweaver but haven't had time to work on it. The Internet went down for three days last week and in that time I made up some brochures and such for Cody to do some marketing. He is busy building cabinets somewhere this week.


Next on the list is an update on the animal situation. Cody bought a cute little Creamsickle Corn Snake just before Morgan came home a few weeks ago. Morgan named her Rosie and she and Hazel are growing like weeds! Geraldine is growing also but she grows more in girth than length. I have included several photos of Hazel and Rosie on Cody's arm from a few days ago.


Well, I hate to blog and run but it is almost 2am and as I need to get up soon I should probably go ahead and get some sleep. Good Night all!