Critters

Splish Splash

Anna Blankenheim Critters, Equestrian , , , , ,

Today I headed over to the barn after work to give Sue and his mama, Banshee, a bath. They both needed it and it was a beautiful day. Sue actually had dirt caked down to the skin on part of his mane (what can I say, the boy loves to roll in the dirt!).

Here’s my boy – I swear he’s not starved… I think this was just a weird angle with a wet horse. He absolutely loves having his mane brushed – whenever I do it he gets really calm and his head starts to sag. We’re finally getting it to mostly lay over to the left… although when he shakes he’s still got some that flips back over to the right (for those of you who don’t know, he rubbed a big chunk of it off on the fence). I seriously love this horse! Every time I’m around him I can feel our bond getting stronger and stronger!

Sue Freshly Washed
Sue Freshly Washed

Here’s his mama, Banshee. She’s a champion reining horse:

Sue's Mama, Banshee
Sue’s Mama, Banshee

Dana, my trainer came by and asked if I wanted to ride her bareback… to which I responded with a resounding YES! The one time I’ve “ridden” bareback was on our honeymoon – and they basically plopped us on the horses and we walked them 10 feet into the ocean. Hardly riding. Today was amazing… it was so cool to feel her move. I fell in love with the saddle I bought because it lets me feel the horse – this took this to the next level! We did a few loops around the arena and then practiced some spins – so different than on Sue because Banshee clearly knows what she’s doing! It was a great time!

Life With Sue Part 2

Anna Blankenheim Critters, Equestrian , , ,

I have very seriously enjoyed every facet of owning a horse.

Sue has his own silly little personality. Like any young creature, he likes to test his boundaries… everything from nibbling on my arms to pushing on me with his nose. He tries it in the arena (“You want me to run? I’ll show you run!”). For me it’s been a learning lesson because I’ve had to learn the basics about horses and their behavior as well as the ins and outs of riding. My trainer is one of the coolest people ever, but she challenges me. A lot. I love that, even though it’s hard and sometimes uncomfortable. Dana gets me and helps make me a better rider, even on the days we don’t ride and just do groundwork.

A couple weekends ago I had a ride that started off rough and then felt like everything that could go wrong did. When I tried to mount up, Sue started a little bit of bucking, which scared the daylights out of me. Lesson 1 of the day: pay attention to your horse when walking to the arena… if the cinch (the strap that goes around their belly) is pinching at all, climbing up in the saddle can hurt them, causing bucking. After that, I lost a bit of confidence and by God, that horse knew it. He tested me at every chance (didn’t lope when I asked, stopped when I didn’t ask, etc), but we made it through. I went home feeling like the worst rider in the world.

I went back for a trail ride the next day and everything fell back into place. Over the last two lessons, things have just clicked. I feel like Sue understands what I’m asking him and actually wants to do it. We had one of the most wonderful lopes around the arena that I’ve ever had with him – we made it four or five times around before I asked him to walk. It was just one of those blissfully good rides.

I still find a lot of solace at the barn… when I’m there I don’t worry about other things in life. I don’t think about what’s for dinner or that email I have to send when I get home. It’s just me and Sue. I’m learning to be the alpha with him and it’s been really fun. His stall is right next to his mama’s (her name is Banshee) and she neighs every time I take Sue out or bring him back in. I sneak her treats for being a good mama.

Life is so darned good!

Good News/Bad News

Anna Blankenheim Critters , , ,

Since we let the barn cats out of their pump shed home a couple weeks ago, we have had exactly two sightings – one of Charlie down the road and one of Kenzie on the bank out front. I’ve been putting cat food out to make sure they had something to eat, but wanted to see if it was actually them coming to chow down.

Here’s the good news – both cats made appearances on the camera:

Charlie
Charlie

 

Kenzie
Kenzie

Here’s the bad news – we now own a skunk:

I Shall Call Him Fluffy
I Shall Call Him Fluffy

There were a lot of pictures of the skunk. A lot. One, in fact, that showed me way more of the working end of a skunk than I think I ever want to see again (although, most likely the only way to see it like this and come away smelling fresh and clean):

The Business End
The Business End

To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what to do about this. I can’t not put food out, knowing the cats are relying on it, but I definitely don’t want to feed Purina’s finest cat food to a skunk. Nor do I want to encourage one to hang around. I put some more food (and the camera) back out tonight… fingers crossed we just get cats this time!

Update On Shadow

Anna Blankenheim Critters, Saturdays with Shadow , ,

Yesterday my mom came up to help me get Shadow to the vet (Mike was at work). I was hoping that he would get his cone taken off… to be really honest, it’s driving just about everyone in the house crazy! Poor dog hasn’t figured out yet that his head is bigger, so in addition to be drugged out of his mind, he is running into just about everything.

The good news is that they took the drain out and it looks like it’s starting to heal up. The bad news is that he has a bunch of stitches and until those can come out, he has to be supervised and wear the cone of shame. Sooo… we have 6 more days. Thankfully, my parents are coming to help this weekend (we have the Willie Nelson concert) and next Monday – Wednesday. Then, Mike and I will take his stitches out… that should be fun.

A Very Eventful Sunday With Shadow

Anna Blankenheim Critters, Saturdays with Shadow , , ,

Life in the Blankenheim household sure has been… well, eventful, in the last 24 hours. Yesterday Shadow jumped while Mike was opening the gate to his pen and got his paw stuck. That caused him to land funny, and he came down right on top of the latch. He limped away from it and I checked his paws. He seemed like he walked it off, so we headed out for a few hours for lunch with some friends. When we got back, he was limping even more. He let out these squeaks of pain on the stairs and I knew something was wrong. I had him lay down, and that’s when I noticed the almost 2 inch gash under his arm.

We immediately tossed him in the car and headed down to the emergency vet in Sacramento. The poor little guy was very clearly in pain… he just sat there (not even wagging his tail) when the vet came in and checked him out. He very clearly had a puncture wound. They did a chest x-ray to make sure that he hadn’t penetrated his chest cavity (he didn’t, thank goodness), then sedated him and put in a drain since it was so big – the vet said it was about 2.5 inches deep! They stitched some of the muscle together (think of getting stabbed between your armpit and chest muscles) and sent us home with a sleepy dog, antibiotics, pain pills, and a hefty bill. The rest of the night was awful – I slept downstairs with him and he was completely in pain and out of it. I think I finally fell asleep around 4am with the lights on because something about the dark freaked him out.

He has to wear the cone of shame so that he doesn’t rip the drain out… and is completely doped up. It is so hard to see him hurting (you can definitely tell when the pain meds wear off) and he hates the cone (although he’s tolerant of it). We go back in on Wednesday to have the drain evaluated and hopefully removed.

My poor little guy!

Shadow Getting Sun
Shadow Getting Sun

Meet Charlie & Kenzie!

Anna Blankenheim Critters , ,

Hi everyone! Meet Charlie and Kenzie, our new cats! They’re barn cats, meaning they live outdoors and will hopefully help us with varmint problem! Charlie is the tabby on the top of the picture (he’s 8), and Kenzie is the little black one trying to hide at the bottom (she’s 5). They were surrendered to the animal shelter together, so I thought I’d keep them together. They were both outdoor cats before, so perhaps they’ll keep each other company!

Charlie & Kenzie
Charlie & Kenzie

We’ve tried a lot of different things to rid ourselves of the moles, gophers, and mice, but now we’re trying the truly natural method! They’re getting settled into their new home down in the pump shed where they’ll stay for about a week before we let them out to explore our property. Hooray for new pets!

Saturdays With Shadow: Snow Edition

Anna Blankenheim Critters, Photography , , ,

Overnight we got about seven inches of snow (hello, did I mention I’m running a marathon tomorrow?!).

Even though he’s seen and hiked in snow before, I still love seeing the excitement Shadow gets from getting to frolic in it. I’m not gonna lie, I still get really excited about it too (as my friend Jamie says, we’re flatlander transplants and still don’t see it as work!).

First off, I make him pose with me. Both him and Mike love it when I do this.

Say Cheese!
Say Cheese!

It’s not a good time in the snow if you don’t eat some:

Eating Snow
Eating Snow

After that, I got serious and tried to get some good pictures… Shadow is so hard to photograph because of how dark he is… but I got some good ones!

Handsome Boy
Handsome Boy

Check out Facebook for some more! 🙂

 

He REALLY Loves Me!

Anna Blankenheim Critters ,

The “he” that I refer to is my husband.

How much is “REALLY”?

Well, he’s about to fulfill one of my biggest, most long running dream.

If you’ve known me for any amount of time, you’ll know that I love animals. Almost all of them (I’m sure there’s some reason to love the skunk and the snake, but I haven’t found it yet). I spent a great deal of my childhood wanting to be a veterinarian and have had pets galore. There has always been one that was at the top of both the proverbial and literal (ie. birthday/Christmas) lists. One that I’ve wanted more than anything, but have never had.

That’s right, a horse.

He’s buying me a horse. An honest to God, breathing, living, 1000+ pound horse.

I am so excited that I think my head might explode. More to come friends… stay tuned for a ton of obnoxious horse-related posts. 🙂

Falconer For A Day

Anna Blankenheim Critters , ,

A few months ago my mom found a Groupon that sounded silly, but we both said “what the heck” and bought it. Fast forward to 8am on Sunday morning:

Just Another Day With A Hawk
Just Another Day With A Hawk

Yup, our Groupon was for a falconry lesson at West Coast Falconry. Neither of us really knew what to expect but thought it would be a fun experience. It definitely was! We got there and spent some time checking the falcons and hawks out. They are absolutely beautiful birds!

Our hawk (pictured above on my arm) was a beautiful Harris Hawk named Don Diego Alejandro Santiago Saragossa Inigo Montoya Del Gato, or “Diego” to his buddies. He was really well behaved and I was amazed at how gently he landed on me!

Calling Diego
Calling Diego

We used the hawk because they are more like a pack animal – in the wild they hunt with their family group while most other birds of prey prefer to hunt alone. Apparently the falcons are a bit difficult and have to get to know their trainer before they cooperate. They’ve actually become one of the most popular hunting birds in the world! Diego was a great bird… he did exactly what we asked him and showed just how smart these birds actually are!

I’ll post the rest of the pictures to my Facebook page… head on over to check them out!