Yesterday morning, I drove 75 miles one way to South Carolina to pick up three Silver Fox (rabbit) does. Usually, Wally and I go on these road trips together, but it didn’t work out this time. I have a phobia about vehicles breaking down and don’t like to go on long road trips, especially alone. Luckily, the trip was successful. The does are beautiful, the man that bred them is a neat person and I was able to swing by a feed store and pick up 10 bags of organic alfalfa pellets on my way home.
Got home and unloaded the rabbits, then headed back out to the dairy to see about buying a couple of bottle calves. I want to try to raise two of them over the warm months and then have them butchered early as veal. Couldn’t find anyone at the dairy, so drove back over to the sweet potato farmer and got a bushel of sweet potatoes.
Then I got a call about an advertisement I put on Craigslist for Sudi. We’ve had several people look at him, none of them suitable for Sudi. This man was interested in him as an endurance horse. He was 57 years old and wanted to achieve this dream before he got too old. We talked for a while and set up a time for him to come out and look at Sudi. He got here and I felt that this was going to be a good fit for Sudi. We looked at him in the pasture, then the man asked if I felt good enough about him for him to be able to ride Sudi and I said sure. This man (Dean is his name) has not ridden in about 25 years. He got on Sudi and never turned back. Sudi tried to pull some shit, but Dean’s height and strength kept him in line; plus he had no fear. Sudi hasn’t been ridden since last fall and he was fresh as a fart; I would have had a lot of trouble keeping him in line. Sudi is a big, powerful horse. He’s not a bad horse, but he’s a horse and he has his own ideas of how things should go. We caught Ace and saddled him up and we went for a ride. Dean is going to ride the hide off Sudi and that’s exactly what Sudi needs.
We got back and negotiated a deal for Sudi, the Western saddle that I recently had rehabbed and bridle. If all goes well, we’ll deliver him this afternoon when Wally gets out of work. Ace is going to have a nervous breakdown, but he’ll survive. It’s hard for me to think about selling Sudi as I really like him, I like him better than Ace, but Ace is more suitable for the kind of riding I want to do, not so much the kind of riding I want to do, but the kind of riding I can do. I am sure Dean is going to take really good care of Sudi.
I almost sold my Marciante saddle, but Wally talked me out of that and I’m glad he did. I really like that little saddle, it fits me, it works really well on Ace and down the road, I can pick up another Western saddle. We have some thoughts about trying to get Ace running in barrels and poles again so I’ll need to get a barrel saddle to do that.
Dean and his wife didn’t leave here until about 6 so Wally and I were way behind in our chores. He had stopped on his way home from work and picked up a load of hog fuel that he needed to unload, plus the 10 bags of alfalfa, rabbit food needed to be hauled up to the milk parlor, watering, hay, covering the garden, etc. We didn’t eat supper until 8:00, way past our normal schedule! It’s cold! Below freezing! Crazy spring weather! It’s going to be in the mid-80’s on Monday. Up, down, up, down!
Something is wrong with Gel. I think he injured his mouth fetching sticks. It’s been pretty stupid of us to allow him to continuously fetch sticks because sticks can cause a lot of injury. Gel is a retrieving fanatic. Anyone who comes here is greeted by Gel dropping a stick at their feet. I can’t find anything wrong with his mouth, but something is definitely wrong. If he doesn’t seem better by tomorrow, I’ll take him to the vet. That’s really on my mind now.
I’m behind in a lot of things now such as my job, paying bills, laundry, etc. Today is going to be a catch up day. I am fried though, emotionally really, really tired. The AWA inspection is on my mind, but not so much as it has been. Dean and his wife raved about the farm. They kept saying how clean and harmonious it was. That’s a good thing. Selling Sudi has been a very difficult decision.
Until later …