I was awoken early by the sound of "bang bang bang bang" silence... "bang bang bang".. If I had a gun handy I woulda shot Willie! Periodically over the past few months, we hear him out kicking the stall. His stall is next to Oakley's and apparently, he is not an Oakley fan! He doesnt care much for Edgar either, clearly my horse is not gay! So instead of each horse minding their own business, no they both stand next to their adjoining wall, peering at eachother through the gaps in the boards (remind me to tell you why there are gaps) and Oakley antagonizes, while Willie stands there and bucks/kicks the wall... This morning it was out of control.. Just Bang Bang Bang, non stop almost.. So out of bed I flew to rearrange horses and goats, isolating Willie to the other side of the barn which I had wanted to avoid doing. I didnt want to displace the goats but I had to put Willie in the goats stall that used to be Edgars... See Edgar will share the stall, but Wille will NOT! ;)
So back to the gaps in the boards.. apparently Oakley is bored! He's chewing the barn, the tree in his paddock, anything his little mouth can reach... He's chewed a 2x6 in half and many others are on their way to being destroyed completely.
So my morning continues... When I walked back into the house and headed to feed the dogs, I see something wrong in the kitchen! One of the dogs (most likely Ellie) decided that last night was a good night to chew on the linoleum floor and create a "spot" that sticks up and now is going to drive me crazy! See, we have determined that Derek is allergic to the dogs.. not just a minor thing, but he breaks out in big hives, itching and such. Doctors say you can be breed specific with allergies so apparently Jack Russells are not a breed he is allergic to. I think it is mostly Cooper, but it is likely to be Ellie as well. Russell and Ellie sleep in the bedroom in a crate together, Cooper sleeps outside the bedroom. Last night we decided that Ellie no longer gets to sleep in the bedroom to help alleviate dog dander and my guess is that decision really pissed her off and she decided to make it known she was not happy!
I was so frustrated with animals this morning that I had a lump in my throat and was on the verge of crying.. I'm glad I had to focus on getting to work because I was so angry at them all that I could hardly stand to look at them. Poor Russell, although I didnt yell at him, the other 2 got a stern talking to and looked guilty as shit.. Blind old Russell just stood there waiting for love and I was in no mood.
My fear is that today when Derek gets home he will find a kitchen floor torn up.. I have been anxious all day about it.
I dont really want Willie on the opposite side of the barn, I want either Oakley or Edgar over there because those 2 horses will share that stall with the goats and its the best stall for the goats... So I want Willie stalled next to another horse, but I dont want Willie kicking, so I've come up with a solution!! I'm going to buy/create some kick chains.. Each back leg will have a chain attached to it and if he wants to kick, he will hurt himself! I not only want him to stop because he is going to hurt himself and destroy my barn walls, I want him to learn it is NOT OK to kick.. period!! I'm hoping this solution will work.. If not the next step will be to attach a shock collar to him.. no joke! They now make them for horses for issues like this.. We have a friend with a dog collar so I would borrow his collar and hook Willie up to it. The only reason that is not my #1 option to try is that I have to be around to punish him, whereas the kick chains are self-punishing whether I'm home or not.
The thought has crossed my mind as the year draws near that Willie had til the end of this year to prove to me he was worthy of keeping.. And if I didnt enjoy riding him, he would be for sale.. let me tell ya, I had to calm myself before doing anything rash this morning as I wanted to put his ass up for sale immediately. I'm a little suprised the neighbors have not complained yet.. BUT I do like him.. he is a sweet horse and loves people, and he's a pretty solid ride. He's not 100% perfect for darn sure with riding, he's still a bit of a project and maybe thats why I like him so much as a riding horse, I've always been drawn to project horses..
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