Almost made it!
I forgot to mention yesterday - the horses had no salt in the pasture with them. When I asked Dillan about it, he was all confused. I mentioned that they had a block of salt in the other pasture, and he was all "they did? Well, the previous owners came by yesterday to pick some stuff up, I think the took the block with them."
I was all "Why would they do that? A block costs like 5 bucks!" Then I went out to the other pasture, and sure enough, there's the cobalt salt block. *shakes head* I put it out in the field with the horses.
I also had to get after Dillan and tell him not to let Champ have any oats. When we went for our ride yesterday he went to catch his horse with a 5 gallon pail half full of oats, and then he left the pail in the field when he brought his horse in. He mentioned it to me so I went out and got it, and sure enough Diamond had her nose buried in the bucket. I went in and told Dillan that a horse could get very sick if they ate this many oats (I didn't say colic because I have a funny feeling that he has no idea what colic is), but again, I don't quite think he got it.
*twitch* Lightning is never coming here!
So back to today. I drove out after work to see Champ. It's been rainy and windy all day, so I was planning on longeing him in sidereins in the arena and cleaning out his tail again.
I was driving a big old 1987 Ford F150, or 'Bruiser' as he's affectionately called. I hate driving it out to the barn because he's a fucking pig on gas - we're talking 250km on a 60 liter tank (to put that in perspective for Americans, my Cavalier goes 600km on the same amount of fuel). Ouch. But Martino is in Calgary with the Cavalier (whoever's driving further takes the car, so he definitely won on that one), so I had not choice. I almost didn't feel like going out, but what else was I going to do on such a miserable day? sit on my ass and watch tv, most likely. And I've been having dreams about fucking ticks every night for the last week. Last night's episode saw Irissa (the horse kissing my in that icon) out in the field with Champ. I tried to check her tail for ticks, but she wouldn't let me even touch it. I couldn't stand the thought of the fly spary having washed off in the rain and Champ having no protection from those awful little parasites. So the barn was the better option.
Anyway, I was halfway down the 10km dirt road when suddenly BOOM! My right hind tire completely blows. It sounded like a fucking shotgun went off in the cab! I could feel the drag, then the sudden pull and loss of traction as the rim touched ground. I pulled over and got out.
I've never seen a tire so completely fucked up.
I called Martino first, at which he nearly freaked out. Big ass tires for trucks like that are expensive - usually around 250$ each. And these were all brand new tires. Tino suggested that I check the glovebox for a receipt - fortunately there was one there. The guy we bought the truck from had put the new tires on in September at Kal-Tire, and the receipt was there. Whew! Kal-Tire has a Road Hazard clause in their warranty - the only charge for a new tire is the cost of putting it on plus and exchanged based on how much tread is left on the tire.
I was an hour or so waiting for the tow truck, since I was on a dirt road nearly a half hour outside of the city. Halfway through this wait I had to pee, but figured I could hold it. To pass the time I walked down the road to see what had demolished my tire. It had taken me about 1/2 a kilometer to stop, so I trotted off down the road to see what I could find. It was easy to see what tracks were mine - you could see where the rim dug into the gravel, and even before that it was easy to see the flat tire tracks.
What I hit turned out to be a large leg bone, probably from a cow. I recall seeing what I thought was a little carcass on the road, and though I tried to avoid it with my tires I didn't think much of it. But when I passed it was when the tire exploded, and I did see something go flying in the rearview mirror. I must have rolled over the end of the bone, partially concealed because its colour so closely matched the gravel. The bone was shattered, and the pieces were extremely sharp. It was easy to see how they could have punctured the tire! I could hardly believe it.
CAA Gold membership pays off! I could have the truck towed to the place of my choice, and since the driver didn't take my information I think I might have gotten the tow without counting against my uses! Kick ass! And Kal-Tire was great. They stayed open longer so that they could fix me, and once I arrived the realized they didn't have the right tire. They had to send an employee out to another location to get the right tire. While they were taking off the tire one of the studs snapped (that's the bolts the keep the tire on!) and they didn't have any replacements. So now I have to go in tomorrow to get the stud replaced. No barn tomorrow either. *sigh*
What a day!
I was all "Why would they do that? A block costs like 5 bucks!" Then I went out to the other pasture, and sure enough, there's the cobalt salt block. *shakes head* I put it out in the field with the horses.
I also had to get after Dillan and tell him not to let Champ have any oats. When we went for our ride yesterday he went to catch his horse with a 5 gallon pail half full of oats, and then he left the pail in the field when he brought his horse in. He mentioned it to me so I went out and got it, and sure enough Diamond had her nose buried in the bucket. I went in and told Dillan that a horse could get very sick if they ate this many oats (I didn't say colic because I have a funny feeling that he has no idea what colic is), but again, I don't quite think he got it.
*twitch* Lightning is never coming here!
So back to today. I drove out after work to see Champ. It's been rainy and windy all day, so I was planning on longeing him in sidereins in the arena and cleaning out his tail again.
I was driving a big old 1987 Ford F150, or 'Bruiser' as he's affectionately called. I hate driving it out to the barn because he's a fucking pig on gas - we're talking 250km on a 60 liter tank (to put that in perspective for Americans, my Cavalier goes 600km on the same amount of fuel). Ouch. But Martino is in Calgary with the Cavalier (whoever's driving further takes the car, so he definitely won on that one), so I had not choice. I almost didn't feel like going out, but what else was I going to do on such a miserable day? sit on my ass and watch tv, most likely. And I've been having dreams about fucking ticks every night for the last week. Last night's episode saw Irissa (the horse kissing my in that icon) out in the field with Champ. I tried to check her tail for ticks, but she wouldn't let me even touch it. I couldn't stand the thought of the fly spary having washed off in the rain and Champ having no protection from those awful little parasites. So the barn was the better option.
Anyway, I was halfway down the 10km dirt road when suddenly BOOM! My right hind tire completely blows. It sounded like a fucking shotgun went off in the cab! I could feel the drag, then the sudden pull and loss of traction as the rim touched ground. I pulled over and got out.
I've never seen a tire so completely fucked up.
I called Martino first, at which he nearly freaked out. Big ass tires for trucks like that are expensive - usually around 250$ each. And these were all brand new tires. Tino suggested that I check the glovebox for a receipt - fortunately there was one there. The guy we bought the truck from had put the new tires on in September at Kal-Tire, and the receipt was there. Whew! Kal-Tire has a Road Hazard clause in their warranty - the only charge for a new tire is the cost of putting it on plus and exchanged based on how much tread is left on the tire.
I was an hour or so waiting for the tow truck, since I was on a dirt road nearly a half hour outside of the city. Halfway through this wait I had to pee, but figured I could hold it. To pass the time I walked down the road to see what had demolished my tire. It had taken me about 1/2 a kilometer to stop, so I trotted off down the road to see what I could find. It was easy to see what tracks were mine - you could see where the rim dug into the gravel, and even before that it was easy to see the flat tire tracks.
What I hit turned out to be a large leg bone, probably from a cow. I recall seeing what I thought was a little carcass on the road, and though I tried to avoid it with my tires I didn't think much of it. But when I passed it was when the tire exploded, and I did see something go flying in the rearview mirror. I must have rolled over the end of the bone, partially concealed because its colour so closely matched the gravel. The bone was shattered, and the pieces were extremely sharp. It was easy to see how they could have punctured the tire! I could hardly believe it.
CAA Gold membership pays off! I could have the truck towed to the place of my choice, and since the driver didn't take my information I think I might have gotten the tow without counting against my uses! Kick ass! And Kal-Tire was great. They stayed open longer so that they could fix me, and once I arrived the realized they didn't have the right tire. They had to send an employee out to another location to get the right tire. While they were taking off the tire one of the studs snapped (that's the bolts the keep the tire on!) and they didn't have any replacements. So now I have to go in tomorrow to get the stud replaced. No barn tomorrow either. *sigh*
What a day!