2007-2010 January 16th

January 16, 2007

Onyx and his herd have been moved into the far run of the barn and seem quite content.  Dave groomed him while I groomed Phoenix.  Elsa has been with JJ in hospital since January 1st, so I helped Wendy tonight by mucking Phoenix's stall.

January 16, 2008

Clinton Anderson and Gale McCraw visited the house!  We anticipated they'd be here about 2:00 at the earliest, but in fact it was closer to 6:30 before they arrived.  Unfortunately, they were in a bit of a hurry because Gale had to get back and work on the TV show and Clinton had to get on a plane, so they only stayed about an hour.  Clinton walked in with the persona fully intact and actually brought us a limited edition of his book Downunder Horsemanship.  He asked for a Sharpie and signed it up for us, then used the washroom and said they'd grab a bit to eat with us.  While I served up the crock pot chicken soup, Clinton came back into the living room and played with Molly for a bit.

Clinton got a little quiet at the beginning of the meal which surprised Dave and me a bit since he's so extroverted on tour.  However, I think he was just a bit shy because Gale picked "safe" topics like the horses and the club and then he started to open up again.  Topics included: music (Clinton's fave bands/artists are Nickelback, Hinder and some other Aussie country artists); Commonwealth countries and socialized medicine; getting across the border with the rum; why I came back to horses 20 years later; Phoenix and how far he's come since I got him 2 years ago; training a Percheron; Dave's and my work; the No Worries Club and how beneficial it's been; watching the TV shows online; hockey and its importance in Canada; the big move Clinton has planned to Texas this fall; the tour stop this coming July in Detroit; and gas prices and the value of the dollar/the Canadian economy.

Time was starting to run out at that point, so Dave gave Clinton a gift he'd bought to razz him a bit for saying he'd never come back to Canada because it was too cold.  He bought him a fleece sweatshirt with "Canada" across the front.  It had a special pocket for an iPod, which Gale said would come in handy for Clinton.

He complimented me on the soup, we took a couple of pictures, Gale teased us about having Phoenix's bridle hanging off the railing, we walked them out to their truck, waved goodbye and that was it.  What a whirlwind!  I think it's going to take me hours to decompress and hopefully I don't feel like it was all a dream tomorrow!

At least we'll get to see him again in July and Dave is trying to get a tour of the facility sometime this year for my 40th birthday, too.  Clinton said we could stop by anytime, but he might not be able to take us around personally, depending on his schedule.

January 16, 2010

Exhausting day today!  Before moving the boys to the side pasture, I decided to do a groundwork refresher in the roundpen and they both acted like nutcases.  Had to do a ton of the sending exercise with Phoenix near the trees before he settled down and when I took Onyx in, he started lungeing around me frantically without being cued.  Tried circle-driving with him for the first time and he wasn't too bad, but they need exercise.  While they were out of the corral, we did a major overhaul of the shelter - 12 loads of mashed-down manure and pee-soaked shavings!  Yuck!