A New Friend

A friend arrived on Sunday and Simon couldn’t be happier.  A little while after being successfully introduced I brought him inside for his grain.  He didn’t even finish it before he was ready to go back outside and follow Dusty around. 

I watched them for a while and Simon spent some time showing off for her.  He puffed himself up and walked and trotted back and forth in front of her.  Then he pawed the ground to show off his toughness. 

 

He kept stopping to see if she was looking at him. 

 

Then he tried rolling around in front of her. 

 

He tried this a couple times. 

 

Each time he walked around her once or twice before rolling around again. 

 

He tried cantering, tucking and tossing his head and bucking a few times too.  She didn’t seem very impressed.

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by riderofchaos on January 26, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by riderofchaos on January 26, 2012

https://blueridgepony.com/2012/01/26/a-new-friend/

Cleaning up the Barn

Carol Ann came and picked up all her stuff last Thursday so I clean all my stuff up and reorganized it. 

Here is the view from the doorway.  My feed stuff, first aid items and games equipment is all on the left and my tack is all on the right.

I need to take some stuff out to practice with and doing that will probably make the games equipment section explode.  But there ok. 

I got the two bottom saddle racks up on my own but Rich was nice enough to help me get the top one up.  I don’t use that saddle much so I don’t mind it being so out of reach. 

 

He also put in some heavier screws to hold up my long bridle rack.  I think it looks pretty good.  And It’s a lot nicer trying to find things now. 

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by riderofchaos on January 25, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by riderofchaos on January 25, 2012

https://blueridgepony.com/2012/01/25/cleaning-up-the-barn/

Getting the Skunk Out

The professional de-skunk product I poured on the blanket, and following the instructions, allowed to evaporate, did make a big difference.  But Simon’s blanket still smelled strongly of skunk.  A friend recommended a recipe, which also turned up repeatedly on internet searches, so I decided to give it a try. 

I filled a bucket half way with warm water and then added in two large bottles of hydrogen peroxide, half a large box of baking soda and about 2 tablespoons worth of Dawn dish soap, stirred it around and watched it fizz up some.  Then I put the blanket in my bathtub.  Next I poured a third of the mix onto the blanket and scrubbed it around some.  Then I left it sit for about twenty minutes.  Next I squirted it off and repeated the process two more times until I was out of mix. 

After I had scrubbed and soaked it a few times I put it in the wash machine and let it run through two cycles to get all the soap, baking soda and peroxide out.  The next morning I stuck my head in the wash machine and did not smell skunk.  Woo!  But when I pulled it out I did.  Boo. 

I went back to the store and restocked on ingredients.  Then I placed the blanket back in the bathtub and filled it with a few inches of warm water.  Then I filled a bucket half way with warm water and added in 3 large bottles of peroxide, a massive box of baking soda and a few very generous squirts of Dawn dish soap.  I mixed it up and then poured it onto the blanket, scrubbed it around some and then left it sit for about a half hour. 

I ran it through two more wash cycles in the machine and pulled it out and did not smell skunk until I put my nose up to the blanket.  So I filled the washing machine with hot water, poured in one bottle of peroxide, about a cup of baking soda and a swirl of Dawn and then let the blanket soak in there for an hour before I closed the lid and let it run. 

I eventually pulled it back out, sprayed it with water proofer and stuck it in the dryer to bake in the water proofer.  I am done.  It still has a little smell, but then so does Simon.  And they are just going to have to wear it off each other. 

The homemade solution worked really well, and was incredibly cheaper than the special cleaning agent I used initially.  I would certainly use it again.

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by riderofchaos on January 24, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by riderofchaos on January 24, 2012

https://blueridgepony.com/2012/01/24/getting-the-skunk-out/

Simon and the Skunk

Last night I walked into the horse field to the smell of skunk.  I thought, ‘gee, a skunk must have been snooping around the barn last night.’  And I went on into the barn, and the smell vanished.   ‘Oh good’ I thought, ‘it didn’t get into the barn.’  And I went out the back to let Simon in.  And with him came the smell.  Which is when it dawned on me, that a skunk didn’t spray the fence or the field, it sprayed Simon. 

Awesome.

Dogs get sprayed by skunks, not ponies.  And try as he might, Simon is not a dog. 

I had vague images of Simon standing in my bathtub with a shower cap on his head while I poured buckets of tomato juice over him.  But I suppose I was lucky (???) and it was *mostly* on his blanket. 

We are –roll with the punches – types, so we went for a pleasant little ride around the field, keeping an eye out for any stomped skunk carcasses and enjoyed the brisk weather. Then I put a different blanket on Simon and prepared to de-skunk his good one.  Luckily (???) I had a mostly full bottle of skunk odor remover from when Ash, my husband’s dog, had rolled in skunk a few years ago, so I soaked his blanket in it, per the instructions.  You are suppose to let it sit and evaporate and its suppose to take the smell with it. 

Not surprising, I applied the do-odor-er outdoors after dark last night and it froze.  So I am going to have to see, scratch that, smell, how it did later this afternoon.  When I walked outside this morning it hit me like a good morning sucker punch to the face and made my eyes water.  I have a feeling Ill need to purchase another bottle, reapply and then wash his blanket in hot water and then reapply the water proofer.  If it were an old crappy blanket I would just toss it because all this cleaning and water proofing adds up in cost, but it’s a relatively nice, purchased late last winter, heavy weight Amigo that wasn’t exactly cheap, and it fits him so well (praises to Horseware Ireland and their PONY CUT line!!!). 

The joys of having a mischievous pony. 

My "artists" rendering of Simon in the shower

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by riderofchaos on January 19, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by riderofchaos on January 19, 2012

https://blueridgepony.com/2012/01/19/simon-and-the-skunk/

King of the Barn

My friend Carol Ann recently bought a house with some land and she finally got her fence all up and secured so she moved her horses out of Simon’s barn and into her new barn on Saturday.  This means that Simon is all on his own right now.  On Sunday I opened up all the gates so he could have his run of the place.  He galloped around and rolled in the new area and then returned to follow me while I walked around picking up feed pans and such. 

 

He doesn’t seem to have much interest in going into his previous section of the field.  I filled up his hay rack, which is in the cover of the run in, and walked around with him so he could see it full of fluffy hay, but it was still full two days later.  So I have been putting a flake out front for him so he can enjoy basking in his new found freedom and eat at the same time. 

 

The past two days since then when I have driven up, Simon has come galloping at full speed whinnying and then follows me around.  He seems to be loving his extended territory and being king of the barn, but I think he is lonely too.  I am going to take him for a nice hack tonight and spend some time brushing and loving on him. 

 

Another friend is moving some new ponies in on Sunday.  And as long as all goes well, we think one of them will be Simon’s new field mate.  He won’t be stuck watching the other ponies through the fence like he was with Carol Ann’s ponies anymore, which will make him much happier.      

 

Until then I am going to fit in as much Simon time as possible and after Carol Ann is able to move her tack and gear out, I am going to reorganize and straighten everything else up.  I already managed to get my feed section and the games equipment tidied up some.  I even filled up the bins with fresh bags of feed last night.    

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by riderofchaos on January 18, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by riderofchaos on January 18, 2012

https://blueridgepony.com/2012/01/18/king-of-the-barn/

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