Making the best of what you have

Three days ago-I'm at home lying in bed sick and feeling like I'm going to die when I receive a text from my fiancé.

Apparently the manure cart does have a weight limit. Pictures to follow.  

Great. Figures. (I'm not exactly a positive person when I'm not feeling well)

This is what happens when 1,100 lbs of weight lies in a wheelbarrow.

 Apparently one of our horses was being a jerk to shoe and when the farrier got after him, he ran backwards, tripped over a rubber tub and landed on his back in the wheelbarrow. Fortunately, he was fine other than a few scratches. My grumpy response; he's too dumb to get hurt.

This is totally off subject, but the wheelbarrow survived! If you need a good one, High Country Plastics is the way to go. After a little bending of the tub part and replacing the wheels, it is still usable. The frame wasn't damaged at all.

Yesterday-Same horse. I tack him and lead him out of the stall. He is standing there perfectly calm. Out of nowhere he just freaks out. Over.... absolutely.... NOTHING. No excuse! As he flies backwards at what feels like warp speed, my legs are flailing behind me as I desperately hold on. We made it about forty feet before he hit a pole and fell down underneath a railing. At this point, I let go. Standing near him while he tried to get up didn't seem like the best idea. The horse gets up with a show of flexibility and gracefulness that is ridiculous. I thought for sure he'd about kill himself getting back in his feet. Our neighbor gets ahold of him and the idiot tries to run backwards again.

And this isn't the first few times this horse has been difficult. He has double-barrelled me in the back, another great show of athleticism and agility. He used to love to pull away from the pony.  Or just flat out put the brakes on and refuse to go. These are just a few from a long list of shenanigans. To be blunt, he is a complete ass.

Today -I go to watch my equine nemesis train. His movement is fluid, he is using himself well. Though he isn't fit due to a layoff, he looks like class out there. More importantly, he didn't do much wrong and when he made a mistake, my fiancé was able to correct him without the horse having a huge mental breakdown.

Back at the barn, I begrudgingly admit that the devil-horse looked good. In complete exasperation, I asked my fiancé why all the really talented ones have to be idiots? He calmly responded "Because we couldn't afford them if they weren't."

Okay, good point.

That doesn't mean that our owners don't spend good money on the horses they send us, they do. It just means we don't have ones that go buy horses that cost as much, or more, than most houses.

Berni sold for $750,000 as a yearling. He still wasn't cheap, but we wouldn't have him if he were even close to being worth that now.

There is always something to fix on any horse. To be able to have the quality of horses we do, a lot of hard work is going to be necessary. Some need more work than others. Some can't be fixed. It is the difficult horses that make us better, that continuously teach us. Wether the problem is mental or physical, it presents a chance to learn. The challenges we face each day is what keeps the job interesting. How else would working seven days a week not become monotononous?

Aggie used to be absolutely nuts and she still has her days, but she is one of my all time favorites!

No one knows everything, we can always improve. I've always believed that the point where a person stops trying to learn is when they become bad at what they do. I'll quit complaining. Bring on the crazies, the sore horses, the ones that don't try. I always end up liking them eventually anyways. Besides, they are a road to better things.