Manmade Mazes and Moxidectin (yum)

Because our *cough* official construction foreman (a.k.a. DH) has been pretty much slammed at work over the past several months, we've had a time of it trying to get the visitor area completed. Since the area is attached to our house, we can't use any of the Epic Farms' funds to hire someone else to do it (a big unethical No-No) so we are stuck doing things a little bit at a time; ergo moving at the speed of snail. This can be quite a challenge for the Type-A personality (and yep, I admit it).

The problem with the piecemeal method is the location of the construction zone: Yours Truly has to walk through it several times a day to get to the horses. This has resulted in a myriad of marital disputes; although I specifically remember mentioning on more than one occasion that my middle name is NOT Grace. Initially it was the thing with string that was giving me a headache. DH put up stakes and ran some nylon cord about 18" above the ground to mark off the visitor area. This meant I had to carefully step over said string both coming and going. Although it was fuchsia and easily visible, I still managed to trip over it after the first few high steppin' days when I shifted my focus to the feed buckets I was carrying and/or the horses (apparently there are time constraints on my multitasking ability :o) I have to admit, that cord held up pretty darn well though. Took me almost a solid week of tripping to actually break it. Of course you just know I got in trouble *sigh*. The support posts weren't so bad; they looked kinda weird sticking straight up toward the sky but I couldn't really miss seeing them, (though we did have some unique challenges there, remember the frogs?). It wasn't so bad, that is, until the concrete was poured to secure them...

The Feeding Time Obstacle Course:
1. Begin by tripping over drain pipe (which has been there forever) because your focus is on the piece of relocated metal roofing ahead; 2. Snag toe of one boot (doesn't matter which) on hose because you are distracted by the pipe and preoccupied with snarling repentable words at it; 3. Take one ginormous awkward step over said piece of metal roofing (while being sure to almost drop the feed buckets); 4. Snag toe of opposite boot on the other end of hose which is hiding in the grass on the other side; 5. Trip over empty concrete bag, then crawl carefully over high wooden brace (because you're too dang old to go under it) without dropping feed buckets, continuing to mutter repentable words while pondering the necessity of having a visitor area in the first place. Repeat course for the next several feedings or until you are ready for some serious therapy. Xanax anyone?

Speaking of challenges, I finally finished playing with the video clips from our latest Worm Paste Party. I posted it a bit further down. For those of you who are not familiar with the deworming process, here is a tutorial from eHow:

1. Choose what type of dewormer you want to use. There are paste wormers available in a large syringe or daily wormers in pellet form to be mixed with your daily feeding schedule.

2. Tie your horse before giving him the paste dewormer. Most horses don't like the taste of the dewormer so he may try to throw his head up in the air.

3. Set the syringe to the correct weight dosage. The numbers are printed on the syringe and are easy to read.

4. Insert the first few inches of the tip of the syringe into the corner of your horse's mouth. It should be pointed towards the back of the horse's mouth.

5. Inject the paste into the horse's mouth and remove the syringe.

6. Hold the horse's head up by pushing up from underneath his jaw. This will allow him to swallow the dewormer without letting it drop out of his mouth.

I found this funky halter for administering worm paste and other medicines to an uncooperative horse (they can't spit it out). While the step-by-step from eHow is handy, generally speaking this rundown from the Horselaughs blog is probably far more accurate:

1. Buy wormer paste.

2. Capture the wild beast -a.k.a- the horse.

3. Firmly grip lead rope in left/right hand (whichever you do not write with).

4. With your other hand insert wormer tube.

5. Pick yourself up off the ground and ask someone to hold your horse while you go to the emergency room to have your dislocated shoulder looked at.

6. Repeat steps 1-5, but duck this time as the back hooves somehow go flying past your head.

7. As your legs get twisted in the rope, try to stand up, only to have your legs pulled out from under you.

8. As soon as you spit out ALL the dirt you just ate, jump up and grab your horse.

9. Ponder why this is not working.

10. Repeat steps 1-5 and 6, but this time go home, change into a shirt that does not have apple- flavored wormer paste all over it and proceed to go to the feed store and buy another tube.

11. When you get back to the barn, see the manager's 10-year-old son walking over to you.

12. Let him take the worming tube from your hand, and watch in disbelief as he worms your horse without getting a single spot of the paste on himself, and there is no dirt on his face, and he's not in the emergency room.

13. Put your horse back in the barn and go home to your nice warm bed.

You probably noticed that there is a considerable amount of harness as well as a crew of three people deworming the horse in that earlier photo (it's not us). I am happy to report that we have been able to *cough* get by with one halter and two people: One to do the deworming, and one to hold the camera...

You're Invited! from Jen on Vimeo.
As with most videos, you probably want to let it hiccup all the way through one time first. Oh, and don't worry, it's not actually 9 minutes long...I have no idea how I managed to do that - Enjoy! :o)

I'm adding a P.S. here... Laura Goldman is a para-equestrian (disabled rider) who has earned a spot to compete at the World Equestrian Games. Laura has an amazing strength of will; she suffers from Muscular Dystrophy, but doesn't let that stand in her way! Unfortunately at around $5,000, the cost of the competition is far beyond her reach and she cannot afford to attend the games. Sheri Israel at Dressage Mom has been trying to help her find a sponsor, but has had no luck so far. If you would like to help this remarkable woman, please visit the U.S. Para Equestrian Association and make a donation in her name (e.g. "for Laura Goldman" where it says Add Special Instructions). Having personally suffered from a debilitating muscle disease (Dermatomyositis - currently in remission), I would love to see Laura have the chance to compete...You GO girl!