All about my horses!

Emma

Quite a Day

The afternoon after lunch looked good to ride my beautiful Fancy.  Terry and I got home.  I changed into riding clothes and went out to get Fancy.  I was going to ride in my nearby arena, first time since last Monday.  We have been in heat hell here, too hot to ride.

I got Fancy in the trailer and looked for Emma to get her in the house.  Oh, she must be in the house.  Sometimes she goes into the house before I get Terry and his wheelchair inside.  Fancy and I took off.  Hmmm, gates were closed at arena, it’s difficult to squeeze truck and trailer into the space available to park so I can open the gate.  I decided to return home and ride there.  Heck, it’s not raining yet and I really want to continue riding at home.  Even though it rained and pasture would be too wet, I have my long driveway and a half mile of road.  I’ve never ridden Fancy on my road, nor Lucky, nor Cisco.  I am an arena loving girl.

I came back and parked in front of the house.  I went in and called for Emma.  No Emma.  I searched the house.  No Emma. Good Lord!  Was she outdoors when I left in the trailer?  I hollered her name.  I walked to barn, yelling her name. Maybe she followed me when I left with the truck and trailer.  She’s lost!  Suddenly, I wondered if she had gotten out of the car when we came back from lunch.  GodDang!  Emma was in the car.  It was hot enough that she probably would have died of head in the car if I had rode in the arena for my normal hour.  Emma hopped out, seemingly unaffected.  Terry and I have a new rule, “Make Certain Emma gets out of the minivan when I open the door.”  Our other rule is “Make certain I put the credit card back in my purse at the restaurant.”

I saddled Fancy with the truck and trailer parked in front of the house.  I did the mandatory three saddle cinch tightenings with the mandatory canter.  She did canter both ways on a circle.  I have one nice large driveway area, big enough for her to canter on the gravel with the 12 foot rope.

I mounted from the trailer fender and off we flat foot walked down the driveway to the road.  What a time.  We went far enough on the road, but not to the end of the road where the skate park is located.  We turned around and fox trotted back.  This is heaven!  It was such fun.  I decided to do it again.  Fancy was fine when we turned around.  She gaited, but tried to veer off the road.  So I let her ride on the grass.  She liked that better.  Hmmm, she does have shoes on and the gravel road is smooth.  Oh well.  About half way up the road, she decided to stop and resisted my signal for forward movement.  Oh boy!  Fancy is arguing.  This is so much like Lucky Star, the Horse of No.  Fancy argue doesn’t have a chance with the pro Susan.  We did a hindquarter turn, go forward and No. We did a forequarter turn, go forward and No.  We did a few more tries of the turn with no success at forward.  So we backed up the road.  We turned around with her choice of going forward and it was a No.  We backed three times and on the third backing, she went forward.  I didn’t kick or beat her.  I won BIG TIME (Thank you Lucky Star for all my lessons)!  We rode to the same spot where I turned before and returned back to the home driveway.  I got off, took off her bridle and saddle and tried to have undemanding time with her on the rope and while I sat in my chair.  Sadly, my grass isn’t clover like at the arena.  She wasn’t excited or happy to eat normal grass.  She has all the grass she wants in the pasture.

I took her back to her pasture and let her go.

Later in early evening when we normally go to eat, it rained.  I wore my famous rain coat, Ole Yellow.  When we walked into the Wine Stop, a customer told me she love my rain coat.  I was taken aback, but strutted Ole Yellow like on a runway!  I kept thinking about the Ole Yellow story in one of my books.  What book was it?  Luckily, I made the Wine Stop display all my books.  Before the food came, I went and looked thru the books.  I found the Ole Yellow story in The Horse of NO.  I showed it to the customer and told her how amazed I was when she complimented Ole Yellow.  I bought Ole Yellow in the 80’s or early 90’s before moving to the country.  It is an old and wonderful Raincoat.

On the way out, the customer was still there.  I put on Ole Yellow and made the customer touch it to feel how nice it was.  I hope the customer will return to The Wine Stop where the crazy woman lurks.

Emma- the bad and now the Good

Emma escaped from the yard Thursday night/Friday morning and got hit by a car. She was taken to our local vet who called me as I was searching for her. I knew she was alive but in bad shape. Emma is eight years old.

When I arrived, Emma was wheeled into the exam room. The vet stated that she was very shaky on her back legs and recommended X-rays. Emma also was able to stand on all four legs which was positive. I said yes to X-rays.. Emma had raised her head and had a good look in her eyes. The answer came back, broken hip in a bone that would take surgery from an orthopedic surgeon. She also has some arthritis in her spine. Vet said it would be best to put her down. You can imagine my non verbal body tensing and alarmed expression. I thought Emma didn’t look like she was ready to leave . The vet then continued with “maybe she has a chance. Help her walk with a towel. If she pees on herself inside, that isn’t going to work. She needs to stay quiet.” She also stated maybe she could cut her leg off. That was quite alarming, even though I’ve had a three legged dog.

Emma came home and with the help from a towel, I got her inside. Friday and Saturday were hell. I had to drag her 70lb body outside. She never urinated either day! She didn’t eat anything on Friday and lapped a small amount of water. I decided this wasn’t going to work. I decided to take her to vet on Monday.

It’s a good thing the vet was closed on the weekend. Sunday morning, she was able to walk with me supporting her with the towel. I let the towel loose, expecting her to lay down.

She did not lay down. Emma walked about ten steps on her own and peed standing up. Wow!

She gets better each day. Monday evening she started to eat a small amount of dog food. I feed her the pain pills in a link sausage which is her favorite food.

She now spends the day outside laying in the grass, watching squirrels. She moved even further today. At night she sleeps in the living room and then moves to the hall outside my bedroom.

Wretched Fantasy Team Competition

I was going to ride 30-40 miles yesterday to get points for the Fox Trot Urbane Fantasy Team competition.  But that didn’t work.  My incentive to take her to my favorite riding park and ride alone, like I did in my 40’s …failed. There is old person fear in me.  Instead, I brought Fancy home yesterday and planned to ride her at home today. It rained overnight.  Damn. There is mud and slippery grass in pasture.

I’ve never rode Fancy alone outdoors except 30 feet between arenas as I’m an arena person.   

Because of the wretched Fox Trotter Urbane competition, Fancy and I took our 2nd trail ride…alone, no arena.  Who thinks up this Fantasy competition team stuff anyway!

Wretched Dish TV is on strike with the channel that carries the Chiefs.  I let Terry use my phone to listen to the Chiefs game on radio.  We have no real radio in our house.  Sometimes technology is a bitch.

Therefore, I rode Fancy alone with no arena walls, without my phone! Scream!

Emma, the German Shepard dog, took her first riding buddy test.  She is a million dollar dog.  She did not chase Fancy.  She did not get close enough to bite her tail.  She kept me within 50 to a 100 feet sight line.  Emma leaped into the lake several times, but far enough away that the noise was slight.  Fancy heard the splash, but didn’t flinch.

I rode Fancy on trails that I had mowed yesterday in our pasture jungle.  There was no spooking.  There might have been a slight attempt to canter back to the barn, just barely. 

Next I rode Fancy on the long gravel driveway dealing with muddy patches and puddles.  Fancy is opposed to puddle water.

I probably rode .4 miles, not 40.

I had no phone to track the miles or call for help.   Hell, I’m at home, if something happens, surely I can crawl to the house.

The flies attacked her face.  I had taken off the fly mask. I am her wretched human being.  

My glasses fogged over with the humidity. Oh how we suffered.  I took off my glasses but then couldn’t see the obstacles hidden in the jungle trails or the puddle/mud spots.  We’ve had far too much rain this year.  I feel like I’m in a sweat bath with clothes on.

We traversed from pasture gate to property gate, weaving the road until she could go straight and not speed up into a fox trot.  (Yes, I did let her fox trot.  We fox trotted until she realized how nice a flat foot walk could be).  Fancy is a “Go” horse.  

Fancy would rather veer off into the grass, not touch her precious shod feet to the gravel. She is an arena horse, not a GRAVEL horse.  Snort!  (Or this might be a way to protest moving away from the barn.). See tracks in road as proof of ride. Does that look like 40 miles to the far far away barn? I need to earn a lot of points for The Dream Team!

Fancy took me on a nice ride from property gate to pasture gate.  This is the time to reward her.  We side-passed over to my trailer fender.  She stood still and I dismounted.  I had looped the reins over the saddle horn.  I decided to see if she would be my partner and stay at the trailer when my feet hit the ground.  (Plus, I was going to take off the saddle there.) “Are you kidding me”, she snorted, and walked away.  Then she had a fight with something crawling up her tender area in her rear female parts.  She couldn’t get her head back there because of the reins around the saddle horn.  She would not come to me either.  I did not own her rear end. I ended up having to walk to her head when she finally got it out of her rear underneath parts and get the reins.  We managed to get the saddle off at the trailer with the help of grain on the fender for positive motivation.

We walked over to the barn where the hated hose awaited.  Fancy tried hard to get into the barn, even though I was standing in her way.  She refused to back off me, even though I had the reins asking her to move.

She got her shower.  She didn’t invade the last 2” of my personal body space. I am lucky to be alive and not trampled.

Fancy is a million dollar horse.  She is perfect for me. Thank you Fox Trot Fantasy Team Competition inventor. Without you I might not ever have decided to win back my fun alone riding at home!

I started out the morning with an intelligent car that wouldn’t start.  Yes, the battery was down to nothing.  How could an intelligent car let the battery run down?

I had to unhook the truck, put Terry’s walker in it,  get Terry into truck and then find a parking space suitable for a long bed dually and handicapped spouse.  This was a mission for food!

With food in the belly at home, I managed to figure out how to open the truck hood.  Next was my new million dollar battery cables.  They have some kind of trick lock on the handles.  Terry had to show me how that worked. The car started and died when I took off the cables.  So I did it again and longer.  

Emma and I drove the car up the road and back.  Sadly that wasn’t enough and the car refused to start again in the early evening when food was again the goal.  We took the truck to eat and discovered a place that serves wine on Sunday.  I knocked over my first glass of wine.  The wine spilled on my phone.

They were about to close and not open till Wednesday. I got a larger helping of grilled chicken salad.  Get on your knees…they had two pieces of pie left.  We took home coconut cream and peanut butter pie….free.  I left a large tip!

Tomorrow, cables again and straight to store that sells and installs batteries.  My car is four years old.  Time for a new battery.

I hope you enjoyed the highs and lows of my day…and my million dollar horse.  She is perfect for me….never ever will she be boring!  

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My Days are Special – Emma, Cisco and Fancy

I just got pictures from Florida showing Cisco’s arrival!

Cisco just traveled 1300 miles in a trailer. Tony Vaught made a special trip to get him. Cisco had gone into laminitis danger with his weight gain on the high sugar grass in Missouri. Horses get a version of sugar diabetes by eating too much sugar which is rampart in Central Missouri grass. This is called insulin resistance in horses.  Horrible pain called laminitis can result which heats up the bones in their foot to the temperature of a 400 degree oven and causes the hoof bones to rotate.  It can be very painful at the worst of it.  Many horses have died or caused their human to put them out of their misery. Our location got the rain that others in the midwest didn’t.  The rain causes grass to fill with sugar. Laminitis plus EPM nervous system disorder is too much.

Cisco will live on Bermuda hay in Florida.  Bermuda is very very low in sugar.  There are people who grow Bermuda hay in central Missouri, but they are hard to find.  Cisco will eat zero grass. There are no grassy pastures at the stable. Tony and Jenny will check his condition and figure out getting him healed as the weight loss happens. Cisco arrived in Florida with his midwest fall/winter coat .He will be itchy until the 90 degree heat makes him shed his winter hair.

Thank you to Tony and Jenny for taking him. They are gifted healers, horse developers with a big heart. Friends and trainer since mid 90’s when I started my journey with Sage and Velvet. (Cisco is related to Velvet also).

Since Fall has started in Missouri, I can exercise outside.  I’ve started walking.  I took Emma and Sulley over to the lake on the turf farm.  I thought maybe I could walk around the lake.  This is the farthest I’ve ever taken Emma outside the home property.  Oh no, she ran far away from me and disappeared.  Both her and Sulley were gone.  I yelled and yelled.  EMMA  EMMA EMMA sixteen to twenty times.  By the time I walk back home and get the car, she will be on highway 7 headed for Harrisonville.  Yes, that happened two weeks ago.

But, Emma appeared.  She heard me.  She started coming to me.  sigh  sigh sigh.  Her GSD trot covers a lot of ground in a short time and there she was beside me.  I was on the opposite side of the lake headed towards home.  Emma stopped every 2 minutes to smell the delicious grass.  Ahead I spotted a large goose “herd”.  They are migrating.  I’d say there were about 50 geese.  Oh Joy!  Won’t Emma have fun chasing the geese.  I walked toward them.  Emma kept stopping.  I yelled at her, “Emma come on!  You have an adventure ahead.”  Emma non verbally told me that the grass smell was way more fun. The grass contained a lot of goose droppings.  She had never smelled so much goose stuff before in her life! We got closer.  I decided to use my scarf as a leash.  Emma and I fought over the scarf.  I won, but the geese were getting leery now and walking away from us.  I let the scarf loose and started whispering to Emma.  I didn’t want the geese to hear.  Emma ignored me.  We got closer to the geese.  Surely she would see the geese now.  Nope.  The geese finally decided we were a threat and flew up and away.  Emma paid absolutely no attention to the flapping geese wings.  Oh wait, there are more geese over to our left.  I crept towards them.  Emma ignored them.  The geese flew away.  Thus ended our adventure walk for the day.  I did so want to see her chase the geese.  sigh…

Now it is time to head for the stable to play with Fancy.  She is forlorn without Cisco.  I feed her while grooming her.  We load up the saddle and head for the arena.  We played the “Touch It” game.  I point to something and focus on it as I “send” Fancy to it.  It is a cone.  She goes to the cone and chews it.  Good Girl!  I point to the mirror and send her to it.  She admires herself.  We do that with more cones.  She’s getting the idea.  The “Touch It” game is fun and builds confidence in the horse along with having fun.

Our new game is a matching slow walk.  Our front legs must match.  My right leg and her right leg must in unison.  I set the very slow speed.  Occasionally I stop with one leg in front and so must she.  I pick up the front leg and walk it backward. Her front leg must match.  I have a lot of fun with this game.  She’s getting the idea.  This makes us a pair.  We are building a relationship where I am 51% and she is 49%.

Our next game is the circle around me at the speed I want.  We are having trouble with the walk to the first fast gait and maintaining the gait.  She gets it and I ask for the canter.  I canter and she canters.  Mostly I canter in place while she canters around me.  She loves to canter.  She will pick up this game fast.  We then practice on transitions down, up and stop.  It’s difficult.  This is the first time I’ve played this concise of a circle game with the precise transition gaits.  It’s fun for me.  She has to pay 100% attention to me or the game changes suddenly.

Fancy is ready to ride. I missed the Dave Ellis clinic as Fancy had a sore back, possible sore stifle and possible sore mouth.  We will find out what is going on with her physically on Monday.

The first group lesson, Dave had the riders use their halter and lead rope to ride.  I thought, OH boy!  If I had been there, Fancy and I would have done that.  Today I rode Fancy in her halter with the lead rope.  I did use the carrot stick too for guidance. I ask for direction changes with my body, then the lead rope.  If those are ignored, the stick comes to her nose and persuades her to go where I’m focused on.

Well, that was about as much fun as it could get!  I would have lived through that part of the Dave Ellis group lesson.  We did the four barrel clover leaf pattern. We tried to speed up, but had the same negative reaction when I asked her to move faster.  Ears pinned, head up with a non verbal NO.   Erin came in to ride a training horse, so we followed, did a 360 and caught up with the horse…or tried to catch up.

Finally, I thought we had done enough.  We side passed to a “bridge”.  I swung off and did an amazing dismount.  Usually, I free both legs and drop off the horse, but for some reason today,  one leg stayed in the stirrup and my other leg swung down to the bridge.  I have never successfully dismounted like that.  I never thought my legs would be that flexible.

What a great time I had today.  Fancy came home with me and is with her herd at home.  The lead mare lets Fancy stay with the herd, but limits the distance to about two horse lengths.  She is close to being a member of the herd, but not quite accepted yet.  Fancy will get to enjoy a lot of grass and being with a herd.  Monday is her vet appointment to find out what her body and mouth are doing.

Playing with Fancy brought drops of joy into my life.  I thought about how much fun I had without being depressed at Cisco’s EPM lameness.  My joy turned into teardrops of joy. There was mist behind the the joy drops.  I miss Cisco.

Now I’m wondering if I can FACETIME Cisco.  Should I request Jenny to hold a computer up to his head so I can chat with him.  Uh, I don’t think he would communicate with me.  never mind.  Horse women are crazy and we love it that way!

E-venture with Emma

I thought most of the Emma excitement stories were winding to an end, but I was wrong.
We have just progressed to going outside without a leash again. Emma runs around and comes bounding to me for a pet and a treat. It’s going great! I stroll by Lake Robin. Emma goes down the short bank. I think “Oh that’s nice, she’ll get a drink.
SPLAT! SPLASH!
I look and Emma had leaped into the water. Her legs are submerged. Her belly is in the water! It’s 36 degrees!
I scream EMMA! Emma looks around like she has entered into a different world. She has no idea that a dog body can be in a lake!
I scream and run to her. I yell, “Emma, Emma, Emma!”
Emma comes back into the present and starts moving toward the bank. Her back leg tries to lift out of the water, like she is wearing a boot. She manages to walk to the dirt and heaves herself up on dry land again.
I’m worried that she will freeze to death in the next minute.
I run to the house with Emma and Sulley.
She lived!
I recovered from my Emma heart attack as I dried her off.

E-ventures with Emma and Fancy

It’s been too cold here in the Missouri Arctic to play with Fancy plus Emma needs a lot of attention. But today became an artic Emma and Fancy adventure. Lord help me.

Last night, I was vegged out watching the comedy TV programs as I was thinking about the quality of the air in the house. I could feel chilly air blowing on me and the temperature in the house appeared to be like a door was left open. Even though I knew no door was open, I still checked. I sat back down. Soon it just got too cold to watch TV. On my way to the bedroom, I looked at the thermometer. Sixty four degrees was the temperature! SCREAM. THE FURNANCE WAS RUNNING trying to raise the temp, but without any propane, it was an impossible task. Scream again. I turned off the furnace and it finally quit running. I turned on all the working baseboard heaters

Oil company opens 7:30 am. Left a voicemail message and sent an email. Brrrr. I crawled into bed and woke up to serious cold. House thermostat was 54 degrees. Evidentially, baseboard heaters are not enough for 15 below night. It was zero degrees outside when I started calling the oil company at 7:30 am. There were other people calling also, people without propane.

After the phone call went through, I let Emma and Sulley out. They disappeared amd too much time had passed. I started the car. No dogs appeared. No dogs anywhere. I decided to drive the car around the yard and workshop. I honked. No dogs. I noticed the horses were upset. My horses and the neighbor’s horses were spooky alert and nervously running here and there. Hmmmmm

Hero Mike appeared. I explained dog disappearance. Then we heard the barking. It was coming from the horse pasture. Oh Lordy, I knew Emma was in trouble. Hero Mike leaped over the fence and ran into the pasture. He spoke Emma words along with Fancy name. A few agonizing moments later, Hero Mike appeared with Emma in tow. He got her through the gate. I opened the Emma mini van door and she leaped in.

Mike explained. Fancy was herding Emma. Emma was terrified. Fancy herded Emma into a corner. Brave Sulley stood by Emma and was barking at Fancy. Hero Mike was able to get Fancy to cease her cow horse holding and rescued Emma.

Fancy is a cow horse! Her winter Versatility training with Tony and Jenny Vaught is going to happen very soon.

Good Lordy. I told hero Mike that we had a “no propane” problem. I was going to go buy space heaters, but Hero Mike has friends with unused heaters. He left and returned with space heaters. Life became barely bearable. Terry and I took a Long restaurant breakfast and lunch break. Finally around 4:00 pm, we had heat. Oh how I love heat in the 14 degree day! Im going to find new space heaters on sale this spring or summer.

The heat restoration came just in time to allow me to attend the musical, Color of Purple, at The Kauffman Center for Performing Arts. It was fabulous.

I collapsed in a warm bed after Sulley and Emma (on her rope) went outside to take care of dispensing liquid and solid matter.
Scream

E-ventures with Emma

1/15/2018
Emma helped me with filling water buckets today in the horse barn. She was loose. Emma did not go into the stalls with the horses. Whew!

We had at least three off-rope turnouts today, Sulley and Emma stayed together and Sulley delivered Emma back to the house every time! Whew

Sadly, Sulley lost his honored status as sunset was nearing. Sulley took Emma down the bank into Lake Robin. I watched as two doggies went out on the ice. I was alarmed. Self and I had a chat about how the ice is safe. It’s been below freezing for about a year here in Missouri. They were not going to fall in the lake. Self relaxed, but made a mental note not to let Emma run free when ice would melt.

Alarm rang again when they traveled to the far side of the lake and now we’re in the horse pasture. They were headed to fencing that might prevent a large dog from coming back to the house. Then Emma would be lost. She wouldn’t know to return the way they had come. Darkness was coming along with 20 below windchill weather! Scream. Emergency!

The car! I turned on the car. I honked the horn several times. The car was ignored by the two doggie adventurers. The car decided to drive. Sulley was delighted. He ran straight across the lake to chase the car. Good Lordy how does his legs operate in ice? Emma did not want to run across the lake. She was stuck. The car drove further on the driveway and Emma saw a path to the car. She ran along the bank ice, to the car! I got out and opened the rear door and she hopped right in. I was going to pick up the dishonored Sulley and put him in there too. But Sulley is the king of “I’m not coming when you want me.” So the car turned around in the snowy drove and returned home. Sulley was let into the house.

Emma decided to treat me to a gas fill-up while I got spouse pizza at Casey’s. I decided to get a slice of pizza and share it with Emma. I always want to reward her for being in the car! Of course she was in my front seat upon my return. We fought over the seat and Emma lost while I tore off a piece of pizza and rewarded her. I had just pulled out of Casey’s when Emma tried to snatch Terry pizza slices. Luckily, her snag was weak and I saved the Terry pizza!

Another day passes while dog hair flies. Our grooming appt is 7 long days from now.
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1/14/2018
Terry, Sulley and I are Team Emma. Sulley helps Emma by dispensing pee in the yard. Emma smells it lovingly and sometimes dispenses her own liquid. Sulley takes Emma away from the house and brings her back. If Emma doesn’t appear at the door along with Sulley, I yell and whistle. That doesn’t work. The car then gets involved. I remote start the car. It honks twice and roars to life. Emma rushes to investigate the car and then into the open door where I’m waiting for her in the house.
Terry and I are now taking Emma with us when we go out to eat. Emma loads herself into the rear and sniffs everything. Terry is already loaded. I load myself and off we go. Upon arrival, Terry holds Emma’s leash. I get out and open the rear door and get the walker out. I shut the door. Then Terry unloads himself into the arms of the walker. Emma stays in her place.
We went to our favorite truck stop tonight. Emma was in the front seat upon our return and her leash was caught.
I got the leash untangled, showed Emma her sausage links and put them on the rear floor. Emma got into the back and ignored the links. She wanted her head to be in the middle of the team.
Oh, when Terry got in, something distracted me. Next thing I knew, the walker was moving. Thankfully, I restrained it before it came in contact with any motor vehicles. It tried it’s best!
Sulley was glad to see us. He is thinking about calling the dog lawyers to sue for equality. Emma gets to travel. Emma gets more treats.

I am drowning in German Shepard dog hair. Emma is living in a warmer environment and doesn’t need all her hair. I’m covered in dog hair. Sometimes I wake up with dog hair in my mouth. I groom her every day, which probably just makes more dog hair fly about the house. Calling for grooming appt early tomorrow! Bleh
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1/13/2018
I passed Emma’s “The Voice” audition!
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Big Big Day
I let Emma out on her long rope so she could get those immediate needy things done.

This morning would be the big day. I clenched my heart and mentally went through all the reasons Emma was ready. I dressed for the cold with layers and decided to wear my tennis shoes instead of old reliable shoes. I also got the chopped up sausage links in a short glass which I stuffed in my coat pocket.
Emma came back into the house. She sat down. We detached the rope.
Poof! Emma, Sulley and I went out the door. Emma was free!
I immediate gave her a sausage treat. Yum
We walked around. Emma stayed within 15’ of me. When she came close, I stopped walking and looked at her. She sat down! Oh Lawdy! I gave her a sausage treat. We walked clear around the house, stopping, sitting and getting a treat. That silly Sulley ran far away and Emma stayed close to me. I almost fainted with happiness, except I would have froze to death. We headed closer to front door. Treat. We got to the door and sat….treat! We went inside!
Our first off leash adventure was a success!
I put Emma on a leash and headed out to the barn. Oh she was good. We filled the barn water buckets and went to check the tank. Curses, it needed water. Joy, the water faucet was unfrozen. It worked! With freezing hands, I got the hose attached. When I lifted the handle. Water sprayed on my pants and Emma’s nose. It was attached a little loose. With partially frozen hands, I tightened it and let water flow again. Emma and I walked around, working on leash manners. I noticed that my feet were freezing. My leather shoes never froze my feet in this short of time. Huh
After the tank filled up, Emma and I struggled to drain the hose and get it wrapped up on the fence.
I could see my hands getting raw. My feet were freezing, but I could still feel them to walk to,the house with my perfect dog.
When getting out of my frozen jeans, I noticed my tennis shoes were fabric with breathing holes. These shoes are Summer shoes. How did I not figure that out!

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1/10/2018
Emma is very concerned about my safety out there in the real world. She decided to teach me a lesson.
“Never leave the keys in the car.”
The keys somehow earlier or yesterday, had leaped out of my purse into the middle storage area.
Don’t do that was the lesson.

Yes, she did leap up into the front seat. In fact, she locked the doors upon my arrival. I was carrying Terry’s Casey’s pizza slices supper.
Click
I stared at Emma. She stared at me. She was inside the car. I was outside the car….worlds apart. Sigh
I went into McDonalds where a nicely dressed person was just leaving. Yes, I begged him to give me a ride to my home. After deciding I probably wasn’t going to rob him, he took me home to get my keys.
Emma
Emma
I’ve not been locked out of my car in a very long time.
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Barking standing ovation to amazing alto performance!

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1/9/2018

Who sleeps with their head in the food bowl?

Emma did horse chores and feeding today, went to McDonalds drive thru to get meat, visited vet to see if there was a grooming appt opening soon, visited Pleasant Hill Feed Store in search of treats and ended up staying in back of mini van when human went in to get Emma’s daddy a couple slices of pizza.
Emma and Sulley are now on outside guard duty.
Whew
I’d just like to add that the ramp at the feed Store is not just for people. Emma hasn’t yet got confident enough to climb a few stairs, especially when there is so much World to stare at and smell.

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1/7/2018
Peace and quiet with Sulley and Emma surveying their kingdom

Emma— your body needs to be positioned the long way, not sideways in your new wire home.

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1/3/2018
Today Emma went through the McDonalds drive thru and ordered a Sausage McMuffin. She ate the sausage. Her human got out of the car to visit a necessary room. Upon the human’s return, Emma had moved into the front seat. After a bit of pulling and pleading, she returned to the back of the mini van. Upon closing the sliding door, she really tried to leap out. Upon restraint, the human got the door shut with just some of the leash caught in the door.
Then we visited the Pleasant Hill Feed Store. We love it there.
After a brief struggle to load up in the mini van, the human got the sliding door shut.
Upon our breathless exciting arrival home, Emma tried to behead herself by sticking her head in the wrong place on the automatic sliding door. Thankfully the human intervention came soon enough which also made the door stick open.
The human was exhausted before noon and required rest.
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1/2/2018
There are people talking on the other side of this door. I can hear them!

I never thought a bight sunny 22 degrees would be anything special!
Also Emma spurns turkey lunch meat but will eat hot dogs. I have chopped up hot dog chunks waiting now.
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1/1/2018

This evening, Terry was forced to heat a frozen food dinner. I was gone. I don’t know what the frozen food was because Emma discovered frozen food leftovers. I came home to find a wild dog devouring something. I picked up the pieces while the wild dog was leaping about, trying to lick my fingers covered with something juice.
This is a dog who has disdained most doggie treats. She will eat cooked linked sausage and turkey lunch meat, just barely. But the frozen dinner brought out a dog we have never seen!
This beat the ice cream experience all to heck!

Emma experienced peanut butter, coconut yogurt and ice cream at out private NY eve party. Her choice was vanilla bean ice cream, she also got to tear up the container.

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12/29/2017

First day with Terry Engle. He took this picture with his burner phone. This is Emma sleeping in her dog food bowl. Sulley owns the king size dog bed in the right corner.

Terry and Emma = Love

Sulley and Emma play

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12/27/2017
Emma slept in Terry’s room, woke up and pottied. Terry scooped it up in paper towel and flushed it. Plumber came around 3:00pm and charged $100.
I’ve always picked up the poop and understand how to get rid of it in toilet. But since Emma is Terry’s dog, he scooped it up. That is amazing.
I’ll be getting up earlier in the morning.
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12/26/2017
Emma is meeting Cisco and Fancy

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12/25/2017
Terry and I had our Christmas dinner with Teresa and Junior Osborn. They gave him the most wondrous gift in the world. Emma. She is a six year old German Shepard Dog. Thank You! Thank You!

The new star…

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