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blackroseraven · 1 hour
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This incredible piece is by the wonderful artist Arareroll, of my Luna from my silly fanfiction universe where she's a Valkyrie. And had her horn punched off her head and thus turned it into a spear.
It means a world to me because he's always been an artist I adore, and who was very kind to me and more generous than he needed to be. I am not sure where he is these days, but I've hoarded this picture to myself long enough and it deserves to be seen, because it really is amazing.
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blackroseraven · 2 days
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Farrier came by today. Expensive visit but also like the horses were in better shape than expected? And he was super patient. Especially because we had to do it. On the gravel driveway, in the rain, and Quattro was skittish, Q was an asshole, and Zara was Big Mad.
Like Quattro I expected to be weird about the whole thing.
Q? Sort of. He did some angry hopping, which I did not expect. He also bit the shit out of me. A lot.
Zara was a huge bitch about her front hooves. Snorting, headbutting, bodychecking.
Anyway. I am covered in nips and horse hair and wet and grumpy. But. It got done and it was ultimately very worthwhile overall, very glad to have made some more connections with a guy who is able to handle the troublesome trio.
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blackroseraven · 4 days
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Yesterday I fenced in the front yard to let the grass rest, as that's where the horses have been eating it nonstop.
So of course I wake up at 5:30 in the morning today to see Q standing outside the bedroom window, staring at me, very proud that he's somehow trapped himself in said yardage.
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blackroseraven · 7 days
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He says he's a big boy who doesn't need a nap.
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blackroseraven · 9 days
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Here's the cute little monster who bit the crap out of my right hand so badly I couldn't use it for two days, and am now waiting for the wounds on to close/heal so I can go digging around in the barn again.
Adorable old tom who has been getting extremely friendly over the last month, to the point of even trying to come in the house. Ada loves him and Trashley was tolerating him until Friday, when he showed up, and when I pet him he grabbed my hand and then just... BIT as hard as he could and held on like a little weasel until I pried him off.
I don't know what made him so mad. He's got kind of a funny ear and one of his eyes looks a little swollen so maybe I touched a bump or something and he reacted to that.
Have I been resuming petting him?
Yes, but carefully. Not opening the door all the way or anything anymore, especially because Trashley is the most protective cat I've ever had and she jumped in front of me the moment he bit me and hissed at him and was ready to murder him, and she very loudly told him off the next few times he showed up and has gone back to growling in the background at him over the last day.
Farm life always has something going on, I suppose.
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blackroseraven · 14 days
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He doesn't actually want to come inside but he likes the door being open because he thinks the Inside is Neat.
I did manage to ride Quattro today. He actually did a full rear when I tried to get on, it was very pretty, but also like not the right time for it. But he calmed down after I took him to a different spot. Part of why he gets so upset when I try and get on seems to be that he doesn't like where I've been doing so lately. I don't know why, but. That's not a difficult fix.
Especially since it means I won't land on driveway if I do fall off him.
He was like half-good, half-asshole today. Definitely threw his head down and threatened to buck me a bunch. We did do some nice canter, though. Finally found the confidence for it. We even did a flying lead change, although partly out of necessity.
And then when I asked him to canter he was just like "nah." and we walked for a bit. Then when I was ready to cool down he decided to canter again and tried to blast off and got really mad when I slowed him down and bucked angrily around.
So yes.
But when he wasn't being a jerk he was listening very nicely. Even after Q ran down and basically cantered into us. Before the Super Asshole that he is, he literally just. WANDERED AWAY back up the hill to eat peacefully next to Zara.
horses.
I ended up cleaning up poop around the front yard, stirred the compost pile, did some minor but important cleanup. I think I've figured it out. I'll just keep telling myself I'm going to take the day off to rest and then I feel bad and then I end up doing something.
anxiety for the win woooo
The horses are already lined up outside, staring at me, wanting me to feed them dinner, which is not for an hour. Between this and wanting the door open but just wanting to stand in it, I'm starting to think they're not big dogs, they're just large cats.
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blackroseraven · 16 days
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So I was cleaning the barn today, and I got most of the back room cleaned out but realized that there was a single board above my head, supporting a whooole bunch of crap someone clearly just put up there to get it out of the way.
I thunked it with a few things and tried a few ways to lever it safely - relatively safely - out of place, but it was still sturdy enough it didn't want to come down QUITE yet. However, I also didn't want it randomly coming down in the middle of the night or while the horses were hanging out nearby or something and causing some kind of unnecessary problem.
So we got the jeep down there - getting that hunk of metal moving was a task by itself - and then winched it out of place this evening.
Cleaned a bit of broken glass and stuff up, got the area safely closed off again. Honestly surprised by how well the barn is holding up, all things considered.
At this rate, we'll be able to get it all cleaned out in a few months, and then I guess it'll be time to look for someone to help us figure out how we can get it fixed up.
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blackroseraven · 17 days
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Had a decent ride. Even after THIS asshole showed up to follow us around and start trying to cut us off in the arena so he could play.
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blackroseraven · 17 days
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I have removed like twenty more feet of barbed wire, and more importantly, managed to hack my way back to the post where the wire run starts and remove the rotten wooden post and the rusted iron post holding it in. As long as I keep doing it in chunks it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
I honestly never saw myself doing something like this by myself. Life is weird.
The horses were very helpful in overseeing this process.
Quattro would please like to continue overseeing me inside.
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blackroseraven · 22 days
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Q thought the dry ice was super cool. No pun intended.
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blackroseraven · 25 days
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blackroseraven · 28 days
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So yesterday we had a massive storm roll in. It was so bad it knocked one of the gates off its hinges, flooded the road, and flooded our basement.
Like partner said he drove through water as high as the hood of the car on the way to work, and the water in our little creek, which is normally just a dribble, was rushing over the concrete "bridge" across it. The basement flooded and our driveway is a mess and needs to be repaired.
So yesterday ended up being a bust, and today I got up and we had a cold front overnight that froze everything. I was very glad I got the sheets on the horses to give them a bit of extra warmth overnight.
But hey, there was one good thing, too, and it's that I found Kook! The little dude had managed to escape a few months ago, but somehow the corn snek survived his ordeal. I even found a shed skin on one of the supports, and some snake poop while I was cleaning the flooding. So. Yep.
He ate yesterday, and settled comfortably back into his repaired and fortified terrarium, and uh. He seems very content to just stay put for a while now after his adventuring.
Today I finally got out to ride Quattro, though, and it ended up being really nice. He was pretty ready to go on and only a little grumpy about me getting on. Q actually left us alone while we worked in the arena, too, which helped a lot. We even got to canter a little today, and that was really nice.
We ended up going over to the barn to make sure it was, you know, still standing. It doesn't actually look that much worse for wear. Honestly surprised how tough the old structure is.
So yeah. Making progress, bit-by-bit. Just gotta keep getting out there and not let the weather slow me down too much. Always things to do.
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blackroseraven · 1 month
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Horses don't understand physics.
They especially don't understand physics when they're big mad at you.
So while out for a ride, after Quattro got mad at me, combined with a lot of Q energetically egging him on, he started bucking and threatening to crowhop, but unfortunately at the time we were going up a hill.
I ended up having to do an emergency dismount because otherwise we were both going to go flipping down the hill to land in the marsh and that would have just been bad news bears all around.
Q really needs a Dumb Baby Cage because like. Everyone was feeling really good today. So Q would randomly stay behind to eat grass, then come cantering or full-out galloping up, wanting to race and play and be that asshole friend everyone has.
And just like. Quattro would be so frustrated that he couldn't race around that he'd just get mad and start hopping or bucking or snorting or stomping, in a combination of "I can't right now" and "let me free!"
We rode all around the property, though. Or around like 75% of it, and most of it was really nice. Even though there was definitely a period in the middle after I'd had to do my emergency dismount where Quattro was still really frustrated and freaking out and wouldn't let me back on, instead bucking, kicking, just being a jerkass for like ten minutes of me trying to climb on.
I'm glad I didn't just totally lose my cool or give up like I wanted to. We moved to my "mounting block" - a broken hose case - and when that also failed, I took him to the front yard and made him canter a few times, then got on him from my other "mounting block," a stone lawn pillar.
But the second half wasn't terrible. Just the same Dumb Baby Problems from Q. I either need to build an arena purely so I can lock him in it or get a temp paddock set up and stick him inside.
And of course like. When I was trying to get off him, he wouldn't let me. Kept squealing and kicking out and huffing. Such a buttass.
OH.
He did somehow. Get his tail stuck in his own butt.
Don't ask me how. It probably also contributed to him being upset.
Horses are weird.
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blackroseraven · 1 month
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Horse Argument
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blackroseraven · 1 month
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So the delivery from Tractor Supply did not close the farm gate after he, ironically, dropped off gates.
Which meant the horses got out.
So, I actually went by the store to have a word and say 'hey this happened' and just, get an apology. Do you know what I got instead?
"Oh it's not our fault we use a third party company."
"Oh hey Clay he wants to make a complaint, you handle it."
And then their "customer service rep" just sighs, and I follow him to the back desk, where he doesn't look at me, jots done a phone number, rips it off his sheet and gives it to me, and that's it.
Not a sorry, not a bit of empathy, nothing.
Oh, yeah, and I was going to pick up hinges while there. Guess what? They sent me to the wrong place to get the hinges because "oh the gate order hadn't been cleared I thought you were picking up gates."
So she gives me the gate hinges and says, to the poor kid who has had me fuming, following him: "The Rodie guy forgot to close his gates." As if explaining "he's just crabby."
My horses got on the road. My horses are my LIFE. And I should not be the person chasing down agents that YOUR company HIRES and TRUSTS. If you HIRE them, they are YOUR COMPANY'S responsibility, correct?
Then why am I handling the discipline?
I am disgusted and I will never shop at Tractor Supply again and urge everyone in my orbit to AVOID the Mount Sterling location for Lowes or one of the nice mom and pop stores that will at least treat you human.
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blackroseraven · 1 month
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"I think a lot about dying," Weed said, from the mud. Even in his most distinguished company, he felt no need, no urge to get up. Why would he make himself presentable now, when his guest had already found him wallowing in both the soil and self-pity? If anything, it would be quite rude to get up, and pretend to be something he was not. "I look forwards to it, really."
"You shouldn't," said the reaper-horse. "Death is only one moment of the rest of your life. It may be exciting for some, true, but that doesn't change the fact it's only a single event of a single minute of a single day. You can't live your whole life, thinking about that moment."
"Well, what about the after?" Weed inquired.
"That isn't death at all. And it's quite boring." his guest confided.
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blackroseraven · 1 month
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what in the hell Kentucky
how did Wisconsin weather follow me here.
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