Just Whinny For Me

So the shocking news for today is that Skye has come up with a new way to charm me down to the souls of my feet.

Yesterday I took off after lunch and headed to the barn. It was pretty quiet, so I groomed her and worked her in the ring on the line. She was a little pushy and testing me at every turn yesterday, so I worked her a little more and ended up better than where we had left off the last time. It's like she just has to get the last word in sometimes but once I move her feet around and get her listening again, she's right there for me.

So then I put her in the cross ties for a minute, following Clinton Anderson's advice to let the horse be tied for a few minutes to absorb what she has learned, then went out of the barn for a moment. I ran into Woody, Erin's husband, who was building a gate, and stood talking to him for about 10 minutes. Well, according to my girl, that was ten minutes too long, and she let out a huge whinny, calling for me. I went back in to see her, and there she was, looking at me like "where have you been?" I went right over and loved on her, then I left her again for a second and went to put some apple cookies in her food tub.

No sooner had I disappeared around the corner to get her tub, then she let out another one. It's so funny.

So I gave her the cookies in the tub, but she still kept mugging me for more of them as I went to put her back. She has no control when it comes to those things.  I don't know if I will even buy more when they run out.

Today I went out again, later than usual since I had stuff to do with the boys this morning. I had her out and was grooming her when feeding started, so I put her in a stall and fed her, then helped get the other horses to be fed. It was time-consuming but a lot of fun, as you learn about each horse when you are doing it.

Anyway, so I'm standing out of the barn with Erin, her daughter and Valerie, who owns Wren, mentioned below, and we hear a big whinny. I go up to the barn, and sure enough, it's Skye. On Friday she had been left alone, without other horses in view, but within the sound of my voice, but this time she was surrounded by horses in neighboring stalls. She wanted her mommy!

Of course, I know she really was just bored of being in the stall, but still. I loved it.

While I was there, Valerie got out her horse Wren. While I love all the horses out at the barn, and my only true favorite is Skye, I have to admit Wren is probably my second favorite. He is a registered Paint, though he is solid black with a blaze, and has foundation Quarter Horse bloodlines. He is just such a sweet horse, and so good-looking. Here he is:

Wren, his sweet self

See what I mean? You can feel the sweetness coming out of the picture! I also am a big fan of Cool, who appears below. Cool is a blue roan paint, and he is pretty big and stocky, but with that similar friendly disposition. Nice nice horses.

Cool in the pasture. He's even more awesome up close.

And speaking of nice horses, here is this sweetheart, Reebok.

Reebok. The flash did that to his eye.  I'm pretending it's a Halloween effect.

Skye sticks up for him in the pasture, but I think he wants more companionship. He comes to you and stands, waiting for you to rub him. I love him.

Tomorrow I hope to get on again. I hate to confess how extremely sore I was from Wednesday. Like groaning-when-I-climbed-the-stairs sore.

Real Live Ride

Here is what Skye looks like when I call to her from the van:

Coming to her mommy

I know. Perfection.

I called to her today from the van, and she immediately put her head up and came over, so I had to get out to give her a rub. Then I had to go get her halter, but she came right over to me again like she did the other day. Joy! I think to get her trotting to me I'd have to have the evil apple cookies on me a few times in a row. And as much as I would love to see her trotting to me, I have to be strong for both of us. She needs Apple Cookie Anonymous already; I don't need to make it any worse.

Anyway, I didn't have any intention of riding today because I wanted just to see her and then head back to the house and conquer some laundry or the mountain of papers, schoolwork and mail on the kitchen table, but it was just so beautiful. And I never promised to be June Cleaver.

After I had groomed her, I walked her around the big ring again. Then I wondered what I was doing fooling around on the ground when I could be riding, so I tacked her up in the ring. She acted like she had never seen the saddle pad again, so I spent a few minutes putting it on and off, slower, then faster; then I flapped it around, put it on my head and flapped it around like my head had big sweat-smelling wings with horsehair on them. At that point, she dropped her head and stuck it under the pad to look at me. Scared of that thing, my ass. I told her she should win an Oscar for pretending to scared of it. She had zero reaction to the saddle, which used to be the thing that really made her wig out.  She's so full of mularkey!

I don't tie her up this whole time because of the dramatic pullback problems I was having at the Greenway. So I'm basically ground tying her while I do this.  Once again, I wonder what she knows, as I made a show of putting the lead line on the ground. She stood like a statue, hardly even backing away when she was faking her fear of the saddle pad. Maybe she already knows that too, but I plan on teaching her that as well. I don't feel like it's really a safe thing to do often, but it might be useful at some time. She learns so fast that it won't be too much trouble.

Anyway, we walked a few times around the ring very relaxed. Too relaxed.  She had her head dropped and just kind of wandered. Since this was the first time in this ring, and the last few times I'd had her in a regular arena (instead of the round pen) she wanted to "jig" around at a trot or half trot, I was happy that she was cool with walking. After a few times around in each direction, I picked up the reins a little and put a little more leg on her in hopes of getting a nice working walk with some contact. She was fine with a little more contact and a little more leg, but not as responsive as I would like, as she didn't seem like she was really listening. So next time I wanted to add some exercises to get her giving to the bit with regularity.

We wove around some, did some nice bendy circles. She bends very nicely, thank you very much. I walked her over the ground poles set up, and she dragged across them. She didn't seem to recognize the purpose, which seemed odd as I am used to her popping up with knowledge I didn't expect. So, another thing to add to the list. (I confess I've been secretly hoping that she also has jumping experience. Shhh!)

Finally I got up the nerve to try a trot. It's not that I was worried she would do anything dangerous, but I was prepared for disappointment in getting her back to a walk. So we trotted, and as usual she sprang into a quick trot. It surprised me so I tried to bring her back down, and she resisted coming back to a walk. She kept trotting and tossing her head around, and I felt discouraged. But then I picked up by cuing her to trot again (basically pretending she was walking and trotting was my idea) and we trotted around the big arena about 3-4 times.

I'm sure I didn't look very graceful, and she had her head up and her ears somewhat back the whole time, but she did regulate her speed and stay on the rail where I wanted her to be. And after a few rounds of trotting, she was ready to walk again. I turned her around walked her some more, then trotted again and just kept at it a couple of times around. Then once again, she came back down to a walk pretty nicely.

So I was really pleased with her today. My riding could have been better, and I need to get the same attention from her under saddle that I am getting on the ground, but the fact that such an occurrence seems entirely possible is a big step. The thing that bothers me the most was her ears being back. She rarely puts her ears back so it's not a good sign. I'm going to test out her back again and make sure it's not a physical issue.

My goal will be to ride her 5 times this week for at least 45 minutes a day. That will be the most I have ridden her consistently, and I think it will make a big difference. Clinton Anderson says long rides and wet saddle blankets, consecutive days and standing time afterward for the horse to absorb what they learned.

On a sad note, Erin said that Ike wasn't doing so well. They suspect some kind of infection. He is a rescue that came in with some issues a year or so ago. He'd had to gain 1000 pounds. Yes, this big man had to gain a whole normal-sized horse. He is such a stunner and a sweetie. I'm hoping they can figure whatever it is out and get him as healthy as he deserves to be.

Here he is, deserving of all good things that can come to a horse.

Ike, an Incredible

Almost a trot

After that long day of work, I came home, went to the grocery store, and took the boys to a haunted trail through the woods like I had promised. So although it was a fun day, it was exhausting, and today I was too tired to ride, and even considered not going out to the barn. But since I had spent so little time with my girl yesterday, I didn't want to lose another beautiful day.

So today I just went to see her, and figured we'd leave riding for tomorrow.  She looked up at me when I called to her from the van on the way in, but then went back to munching, so I didn't expect much today. Yet, when I went to get her, I called to her as soon as I got into her view. She put her head right up and came all the way over to me, a long way, at a real working walk, almost trotting. I just stood there, no doubt looking like The Joker with a big grin on my face, as she came up and practically put her nose in the halter. Of course, I know she really just wanted her cookies, but still. Almost a trot.  It felt like a victory.

gimme a cookie!

I was so tired I didn't do much with her except walk her around the big arena a couple of times. This is one of those things that looks like nothing but may be really useful. She got very alert in the ring, and I was happy to let her view everything from that perspective - the other horses, the location of the dinkies who wander cutely into a little grassy area beside the arena, the jumps etc. - while we were just walking on the ground. I then sent her around me on the line just at a walk to give her the message that walking in the ring was totally cool, which is something that she didn't seem to know.

Then I groomed her, loved on her, and put the boo boo goo in the all the cut places. I did make the mistake of giving her some apple cookies at the end. As I should have known, they made her crazy, but  I've decided to view it as an opportunity to command her attention when she is distracted. A little backing up and some firmness about the mouthiness cleared it up right away, but in the future I must reserve the apple cookies for only special occasions. Like when she is a good girl. Or when she looks particularly beautiful. On second thought, I'll just give them to her in her tub instead. Then we both win. I get to give her something she loves,  but she doesn't get to act like a spoiled brat about it.

Now to remember that.

Hard Day's Work

Today Erin asked for some help in working on the trails on the barn property so Dave and I headed out there with the chain saw. We walked all over the place, and I was so pleased to see how big the area is to trail ride, and how nice the trails are.  The Greenway, where I moved Skye from, has over a thousand acres of really beautiful trails, so I'm hard to impress, but I think the ones we worked on today are great. They are wooded and peaceful, with nice flat ground and enough space to ride for a while in the woods. I can't wait to take Skye on a trail ride back there.

We were working our butts off most of the time we were out there, so I didn't get to either take pictures or play with my girl that much. However, at one point, the property backs up to a donkey farm. I knew about it already because the dinkies were taken there first, then brought over to our barn. But still I was delighted to look over and see some donkeys looking at me. They all looked very sturdy and serious about their hay-eating duties.

Donkeys. As opposed to dinkies.

The dark one you see in the admittedly-not-very-good picture is particularly good-looking, and when I came back over, he strolled over closer and looked at me like we were old friends. So he is now my favorite regular donkey even though because he is dark I could not see stripes on his legs. (I give him a free pass on this, even though the stripey legs are a big donkey selling point for me.)

I like donkeys, but for some reason when they are full size they aren't quite as charming. Utterly unfair, but there you have it. There were donkeys in the pasture next to Skye at the Greenway, and they seemed relatively personality-free, even though they were rather good-looking and amiable donkeys. They wouldn't go out of their way to notice you, but if you were close enough to pet them, you could. They didn't give a toot one way or another, so it elicited the same response from me. Not like the dinkies.

Yay! Dinkies!

Aahh. The dinkies.

When I got bored of watching Dave slice through huge logs and underbrush with the chainsaw (which didn't happen that often, as watching that is rather interesting),  I took some other pictures of the pasture action.

Here are The Incredibles in their spare time.

The Incredibles, chillin'.

Munchkin and Mistletoe. Mistletoe is stealthy back there.

And here are the miniature horses, Munchkin in the foreground, and Mistletoe at the hay. Skye was in a pasture with them at first, and they liked to hang out with her. I could kick myself for not getting a picture of them all. But even blurry, these two are adorable.



When we came back from working, Skye was in her stall having just been fed, so we got her out. I groomed her, loved on her and tended to her cuts. She was aloof to Dave, who she used to love, but I think it may just have seemed that way because she now concentrates her attention on me. Yay! Still, he could take her or leave her, so a little affection thrown his way would be a good idea. I'll have to talk to her about it. Since she listens to me so well and all.

Tomorrow, riding again!

My girl Friday

Today I worked from home after an unexpectedly frantic work week filled with false deadlines and even more paperwork than a lawyer usually gets. Finally I finished up a call and saw that it was early enough that I could scoot out to the barn to see my girl in the afternoon. George has his violin lesson on Friday after school, and we were planning to go to a haunted trail tonight,  so if I didn't go early I wouldn't be able to see Skye today.

So I booked it out to the country with the radio blasting eighties music, making me nostalgic for the body I had in the eighties. For most of the eighties I lived on Ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese from a box (the off brand at that!), so even though I'm chubby now it did feel pretty triumphant to be driving out to the luxury of my very own horse. The idea that law school would ultimately provide me the means to have my own horse got me through many a study session, so just the act of going to see her is pretty satisfying most of the time.

Speaking of satisfaction, just look here:

She is looking into the van to see me. That's satisfaction.

It was the middle of the day, so I didn't expect anyone to be there, but Erin was giving a lesson in the arena  so I got my girl and worked her for a few minutes in the round pen. She had to be urged to trot, but I felt like she was connected and listening, if a little lazy. The good news is she didn't really limp, so the bute she is getting in her feed must be helping already.  I wished I had dressed for riding and had the time, as she was in a mellow mood and it couldn't have been a more beautiful day. I was happy to love on her a lot in the round pen, and then spent a long time grooming her and putting ointment on her cuts.

I've been trying to find the sweet spot where she likes to be rubbed, but it has proved elusive. So instead I did my standby forehead rub, and I think whether it is her favorite spot or not, it is "our thing." I rub her and she drops her head down to me, and we stand forehead to forehead, both of us breathing deeply. If she gets half as much out of it as I do, that's better than any magic spot. Some barrier has been broken down between us, and she is fully my horse.  A connection has bloomed when I least expected it.

And she really is a benevolent leader. Erin told me that Reebok the Rescue has attached himself to her in the pasture, as she now defends him against the others if they try to whoop up on him. It's enough to make a mama proud. So I'm proud of her. Shocking, I know.

It's barn work day tomorrow. Dave will get to see how good she looks since she's been getting her supplement. He doesn't seem as excited about it as I think he should be. Go figure.

A Question of Conformation

First, let's pause and look at this:

Skye. Nuff said.

Looking at that basically makes me feel better about everything. I have a t-shirt that says "Horses are proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." This picture says that too. It's my favorite one of her so far.  The natural lighting on Sunday was so perfect that I knew I would end up getting at least a few great shots. This is actually the shot where I am holding her but looking like the cave troll from Lord of the Rings (not the fully grown mountain troll from Harry Potter, because that one is stupid), with me cropped out. Trust me when I say that this weirdly disembodied hand is preferable to my whole self. She looks so awesome that the weirdly disembodied hand wasn't even noticeable until I said something, was it? But hey, it's close to Halloween, so here you go.

Finally, the vet was able to come out to the barn. I wasn't there, but she gave a lot of the horses at the barn shots, and gave my girl the once-over about her lameness. There is no abscess, no injury, but it appears that her conformation and hoof growth has left her with very little heel. In other words, her lameness is the result of the way she is made combined with the way her hooves grow. We can compensate for it over time with corrective shoes and reparative hoof trimming, which has been started. I will talk to the vet as soon as I can, but what I've been told is that we can give her some bute to bring down any inflammation and make her feel better. And I can ride her lightly to build up her muscles which will also help her. I will know more soon, but I am relieved in one way because I kept fearing some sort of injury.

I had wanted to avoid shoes not so much because of the cost, but because of the bother and it seems odd to me to nail metal on the bottom of an animal's feet. However, she has always had slightly tender feet and if this is what we need to do to get her right, I will do it. Her former owner let her feet get really long, and he did her a disservice, and that kind of thing takes a while to fix. So I got what I paid for: she wasn't expensive and she had an issue or two. But look at her, for heaven's sake. How could I not get this horse? I know what the horse looks like shouldn't matter. But look at her. Gaze into her eyes. It's enough to make me reach for my check book even now. Which is good, because I'm probably going to need it.

Picture Day

My brother Tim was in visiting from Colorado this week, so today I took him and my mom to see Skye and the barn. Tim is an avid photographer, so he brought his camera, which reminded me to bring mine.  It was slightly overcast, which is perfect picture takin' weather. so we were pretty shutter-happy.

Of course, it goes without saying that my girl herself was looking pretty spiffy today.

Here comes gorgeous.

Happily enough, she came up to me immediately and acted like she was my horse. She has been great about this for the past week or two, but I figured if I brought someone out to see her she would immediately act like "who is this woman?"

We took several more of her, but many of them contain me, which is a surefire way to ruin a perfectly good photograph. I'm going to edit myself out of one really good one, post it on here, then lose 40 pounds and get a better haircut before considering posting one of the two of us.  I think standing next to Skye, who looks exactly the way a horse should look, makes me even less photogenic than usual, which is saying something.

As it happened, that sweet rescue Reebok was right near the gate, and everybody in the herd was picking on him! Skye is the alpha, and at one point she'd had enough and chased the bullies away. She pinned her ears at him, but wasn't nearly as aggressive as any of the others. Of course, it's because as lead mare, and the largest horse in the herd, she doesn't have to be, but for purposes of my indulgence of my girl, we're going to pretend it's because she is a kind and benevolent leader.  In any case, he survived and was later brought out for some round pen work. Here is his sweet self.

Rescued sweetheart boy

I could just kiss him on the forehead, but what I ended up doing was putting some boo boo goo on him later, as he has a nasty bite on his side, which you can see in the picture. The stuff I use really helps the fur grow back, so while my gloved hand was goopy, I put some on him. He was, of course, a good boy. Like other rescue animals, he seemed to be grateful.

Of course both Tim and Mom fell in love with the dinkies, as they are normal humans, and all norman humans fall in love with the dinkies. I actually took a ton of pics of them, including one where one photobombs what would have been a great picture, but I will just post this one because it is just flippin' adorable.

Dinky eye candy

Take that LOL cats! Who's cuter than that? Nobody, that's who. I love these guys. Note the stripey legs on the one whose cute little rump is in this picture. We should all have stripey legs as far as I'm concerned.

No photo session at this place would be complete without a picture of the horses I call The Incredibles. Here they are:

The Incredibles

See why I call them The Incredibles? They are  Black, a big (I don't know his exact height, but he's a lot bigger than Goliath) Tennessee Walker/Friesian cross, and Ike, an 18.2 hand Percheron cross.  I don't know their whole stories yet, but they are both rescues and now look fabulous. They are so beautiful that the sight of them never fails to stop me in my tracks. I was actually very disappointed in this photo, as it does not show how intensely black and shiny they are. When I showed Dave this picture, he said they look like the horses ridden by the Nazgul from Lord of the Rings. And that is why Dave is not sought out for commentary about horse pictures.

There are so many beautiful horses at the barn that I will have to take a lot more pictures, as I feel slightly less obsessed with Skye when I take some of other horses. Because being obsessed with horses in general is much more normal than being obsessed with just one horse. Or that's the story I'm hearing.

I'm hoping it doesn't rain tomorrow, as I would like to have some more time with her like I had on Saturday. I feel like I am wearing down some wall between us, and I want that to continue. Good weekend. Good girl.

Equine Therapy

I was very busy this week, both at work and with stuff for the boys, and the work stuff was not very good. A very stressful situation. I only got down to the barn for a few minutes on Sunday and then again on Wednesday before getting out there this morning. Skye still has a touch of the rain rot on her legs, and is still lame. Hopefully I will be able to connect with a vet this coming week. So all in all, the week was stressful, and worrying about her made it a little worse, making me wonder why I took on horse ownership when I had a good deal with riding my buddy Goliath at the Greenway every weekend.

The one, the only, Goliath. In repose. Yes, his eyes are closed.

But this morning reminded me why I wanted a horse of my own so much. I love being able to go to the barn and have a reason to be there, and I love going to my own locker and getting my own halter and lead line. I love walking into the pasture and having Skye turn away from the other horses and walk toward me. It was only weeks ago that she would balk on the way in with me and now it's not unusual for her to meet me at the gate if she sees my van coming in. (So smart, my girl is. Says Yoda.)

Today I took her in the round pen right after getting her and to see if she was still limping. She nows walks perfectly and waits to be told to trot, so I'm pleased with that. She was actually a little reluctant to trot this time, and sure enough she is still limping a little. So no riding again today. I walked her in both directions, and we practiced our "landings" where she comes to a stop but doesn't come in. I remembered to break eye contact and tilt my head down when telling her to stop, so of course she stopped perfectly each time. So, the sad assumption should be that if she's not doing something right, it's probably because I'm not doing it right. Shocking. Not.

Then I took her to a grooming bay and groomed her, and I think she is finally getting to relax and enjoy it.  Everyone else there was riding in the ring, so I sang to her while I combed her mane, forelock and tail, and unlike some others in my life who shall remain nameless, she didn't seem to mind at all that I don't sound a thing like Adele. When I was finished, and put boo boo goo on her cuts (there is apparently still some tussling over primacy in the pasture), I just stood with her rubbing her forehead. She let out a big sigh, and we rested our foreheads together for a long time. In the face of this terrible week, the simple act of caring for her and getting that feeling of companionship from her did more for me than the coffee, the beer and the escapist reading I've been doing all week. I am the Queen of Guilt, but even I have to admit that feeling guilty about having this horse is foolish.   And that is why I have a horse of my own.

I put her back in her pasture and this is the look she gives me.

A closeup of my owner

And so I am owned by my horse.

A guy at the barn was bringing in the newest rescue horse, so she and I watched. Last Friday morning, a grey paint gelding was headed for the slaughter sale when some folks at the barn got the call that a nice horse was going to auction from a case of extreme bad luck. So these three wonderful women got together the money to buy him (I think it was $250), took a trailer up to Asheville and brought him home to all of us. Although he is a gaited horse (we suspect  Tennessee Walker), he can jump right out of a four foot fence from almost a standstill, so they named him Reebok (after the antelope, not the shoe).  He is small but well-muscled, with a kind eye and a sweet temperament. I am so happy for him. And for us. His happy ending helped keep my week in perspective too. I keep forgetting to get a photo of him when I am close to him, as I find it necessary to love on him with both hands. Also shocking.

And just one more pic of some rescues. Because I love them too.

Some serious dinky action

She's Really Got Me

I only spent a few minutes in Skye's company tonight, but the minutes I had were golden. I knew I couldn't go out tomorrow and probably not Friday, and I can't even be there for the vet visit tomorrow, so I wanted to just see her, even if it it was only for a minute or two. The boys had a ton of homework, again, and I didn't have the heart to leave them until they had at least finished half of it.  What I forgot was how fast darkness is falling now, so by the time I got out to the barn at 7:15, it was past twilight and night was falling.

I grabbed some of the notorious apple cookies and headed into the pasture to see her. She barely acknowledged me as I walked up, but then walked over lazily to see me after about a minute of me standing there. She was rewarded with the love of her life, the apple cookies. I then showed her my empty hands, and she immediately stopped asking for them. My smart mare. Then I checked her all over and looked at her leg, which looks great. I ran my hands over her, and just gushed about how gorgeous she is. She has heard it all before, so she basically ignored me.

You would fall for her too, if she followed you.

But then she won me over all over again. I gave her a rub then headed back to the gate, as it was getting dark. About two steps in I felt her, and turned around. She was following me in.  When I stopped and looked at her, she stopped too and just waited. She followed me all the way to the gate. It's a significant distance, and she'd already been fed. She was going with me to be with me. Ahhh. And just like that I am completely owned by that horse. I didn't even need to pretend to be Buck Brannaman.

Of course next time, she may balk at coming in with the halter, but that doesn't mean tonight didn't happen.

I love my horse.

Crazy for Cookies

Sunday night, I got an e-mail notifying me that the DVD series of Buck Brannaman clinics was available for pre-order. This naturally led to me watching a bunch of You Tube video excerpts from them, then watching part of the documentary Buck  while I folded laundry on Monday. So I was all psyched up to go out and channel Buck Brannaman's calm and certain authority with my horse. Naturally, by the time I got out there, I had forgotten all about it and was my same goofy self. Damn. It's too hard to be somebody else anyway.

Monday, it had rained all night before, and a good bit of the day, but I still had to go out to check on her leg fungus. Luckily, the fungus looked much better, and Erin has told me that the vet is coming out today or tomorrow for fall shots, so she can check out the limp for me. Hopefully it will be scheduled at a time I can be there.

What I learned today is not to carry the apple oat horse cookies on my person. Skye is CRAZY for them, and it distracts her so much. They do have a strong sweet smell, and if I concentrate on it, I can smell them from my pocket myself, and I don't even live for them the way she does. She was very distracted and way too mouthy, so I conducted a test of the emergency horse cookie system. This consisted of taking off my hoodie (which contained delicious smelling cookie crumbs) and leaving it in the tack room, coming out and showing her my empty hands again, and seeing if she acted more nicely. It worked like a charm. I also have to be more disciplined about only giving them when I catch her and right before I put her up. I've been doing that, but her knowing they were in there from the smell was just too much for her. (And yes, I know that I probably shouldn't be giving her treats anyway. But I like to do it, and I'm willing to bear the consequences.)

I also brought in another small horse, who shall remain nameless, for feeding. Hmm. A beautiful horse, but a real pill. She was clearly not happy to be with a person. Sour expression and ears back, almost but not quite pinned to her head. So when I went back to say good-bye to Skye, I gave her a kiss on the forehead for never ever looking at me like that. I do wonder about the other horse's past. Who had betrayed her trust and made her dislike us so? I hope the kindness she receives now will eventually win her over.

I can't go out again until Wednesday. At which time I will most certainly be a female Buck Brannaman. Skye won't know what to make of me.