Saturday Pet Blogger Hop June 11, 2011 - Mornings On Bluebird Farm

Lexi, Nitro, Tallulah, Bailey, and I are excited to participate in this weeks Saturday Pet Blogger Hop. Special thanks goes out to our Pet Blog Hop hosts, Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume! If you would like to read some entertaining pet blogger posts in the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop, just click on one of the host links above or click on the purple Pet Blogger Hop button on the right side of our homepage. Happy Pet Blog Hopping!
According to my dog Lexi, I have not featured our horses in a long time so she wanted me to share with all of you what a typical summer morning looks, smells, and sounds like here on the farm. When I first walk towards the barn I hear three very distinct horse's whinnies from each horse greeting me (but actually they are saying "what the heck took you so long to get out here? We are starving!"). The second thing I notice once I get inside my barn is the "horse smell" (no not the manure smell but that is present also). If you've ever had the great pleasure of nuzzeling your nose up against the soft velvet skin of a horse's nose, then you know what scent I am talking about. It is pure heaven! The third thing I love about going out to the barn is the wonderful sound of horses munching on their hey. It is a really soft munching sound and it is the sound of pure and utter contentment. Here are some photos I took around the farm this morning. Enjoy! Christina, Chris, Lexi, Nitro, Bailey, Tallulah, Reiny, Skippy and Montana.

 This is my 27 year old Appaloosa mare Oglala Star aka. Reiny.

 Munching on her breakfast...

 Waiting on her grain...

 In the past 10 months she has been on a diet and she has lost 150 pounds! Doesn't she look great?

 Still waiting...

 This is Skippy my twelve year old retired show horse. He is an American Quarter Horse and he is spoiled rotten. We are only here on this earth to serve him.

 Such a wonderful life he leads. Munching on breakfast...

This is my beautiful seven year old Leopard Appaloosa His name is Montana and he has been raised on this farm since he was six months old.

 The beautiful barn my talented husband build for me and my horses. This old window came from the old Salem Post Office many, many years ago.

My deaf dog Nitro on my back deck watching me do chores and take photos. He never lets me out of his site because I am his communication to the world.

 These are the wild flowers around the property right before the weedeater gobbles them up!

Here at Bluebird Farm we have a white picket fenced front yard where all the flower gardens are laid out and where I go in the morning and have a cup of Joe sitting at my little french cafe table.

 My beautiful Endless Summer Hydrangeas

 So lovely...

 I enjoy the summer mornings on the front porch or in the front yard before it gets really hot outside. This week we have been in the mid 90's all week and it has been pretty steamy outside. We do our chores early in the morning before it gets to hot. Even the horses won't come out from the barn because they like to stand under their fans and try to stay cool.

 My front porch. Everyone should experience a front porch in the summer time.

 This is my 27 year old mare learning to use a grazing muzzle so she doesn't put any more weight on again.

She had laminitis last summer and we almost had to put her down. She was really bad physically and they also discovered she had Insulin resistance so we had to take drastic measures to save her life. So far she has lost about 150 pounds. The Vets at Virginia Tech wanted her to lose 200 pounds so she is well on her way to her perfect weight. She looks amazing but now she will always have to wear a grazing muzzle so she won't get to much sugar or carbs out of the pasture in the morning. She doesn't look very happy in this contraption does she? She does get hey in her stall when she comes in from the pasture.

Below are some random photos from around the farm.

As you can see behind the kitty cat statue my Black-eyed Susan is going to be huge this year!

                                                                   (Land Otter)

 Last year I planted these flowers at the graves of my two dogs Dakota and Matisse. They came up this year and they look so pretty. I sure miss those two farm dogs. Matisse was a 8 week old puppy when we purchased this farm in 1997.