Dexter the Doo-Doo-Head

These short work-filled days are killing the fitness program. I didn't get home until almost 5 tonight and still was determined to let the boys out to graze. I cleaned up paddocks while they ate and then went to fetch them home for their dinner about 5:30 or so, just as it was getting dark. Not unusually, they decided to play "Catch Me If You Can" and fled as fast as they could. Cowboy loves this game, although tonight Dexter started it. Cowboy is also a good sport about it and after 3 spins around the pasture, let himself be caught. Dexter, on the other hand, was just getting started and continued his flight, tail high in the air. As it was getting dark, I led Cowboy home and put him away. At least Dexter has a lot of white markings and is visible at dusk, while Cowboy becomes the Invisible Horse after the sun sets.

I thought Dexter would be anxious to join Cowboy but no, he was still wound up when I went back for him and reeled crazily around the pasture for several more turns. By this time it was almost dark and all I could see was four white socks and a blaze moving at warp speed.

Finally, finally, finally, he let himself be cornered and cajoled into letting me halter him. I don't think it helped that by now, I was angry and promising him that when I caught him, he was never getting loose again, not even for grazing. Not exactly enticement, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

My copy of "Fitness Evaluation of the Horse" by Jean-Pierre Hourdebaigt arrived the other day so I am working my way through it. A lot like the Jack Meagher book but a lot more comprehensive. I'm also trying each night to get through a little bit of "Horse Anatomy: A Coloring Atlas" which helps you remember the parts of the horse by coloring them in. Lots of fun and quite effective and detailed. But I'm starting to feel buried in equine muscle fiber. When it stays light later, I'm hoping to actually feel a horse's muscle instead of just reading about it.

I took a break from reading to do a bit of housecleaning and check e-mail. As luck would have it, I'm on the Martha Stewart mailing list (I don't know why) and there was a checklist of six things to do each day for a clean house. The 2 notable items on the list for me were Sweep the Kitchen Floor and Clear Clutter--the 2 things that I am most likely to let get away from me. So I went and swept the kitchen floor and did a clutter sweep and darned if the house doesn't look a whole lot better. That Martha knows her stuff. I bet she doesn't procrastinate. There was also a hint for a more organized laundry room that I had to check out. I hang jackets and hats on hooks in the laundry room but there are a lot more jackets and hats than there are hooks and it's a mess. I had bought a wire shelf a while back that I thought I could use to hang the jackets from on coat hangers, but it needs to replace an existing shelf that uses a different support system so of course, that's as far as it got and the new shelf is leaning against the wall (more clutter) and the jackets are still hanging several to a hook. Lo and behold, there is a Martha Hint to hang a towel rack on the underside of a shelf and then you can hang clothes hangers on it. Now why couldn't I think of that? It will work fine with the existing shelf, and I can hang the new shelf somewhere else, maybe the garage.