In Jamestown, Tennessee - Big South Fork country and home of "the best trail riding in the southeast", low taxes and cost of living, you will find tolerable winters, wonderful Spring and Fall riding and pleasant summers.  This fall Nichol Creek Farms finished out its development with an auction of the few remaining properties.

Now, the auction is over and all Lots in Nichol Creek Farms (NCF) are sold.  Only a few are being offered for resale.  The Lots offered are some of the best in NCF.  They are level and very horse friendly with established pasture. 

The development is served by a gated entrance and paved roads.  The utilities are buried with water, electric and phone at the front of each Lot.  Owner financing is available.

So why not get the pick of the best?  Call me to learn more. 888-283-1592

When I look back at some of our photos, I wonder what is that???  I have on a pack which says I could be hiking, tights that say I could be mountain biking, and a helmet which says I might be riding my horse.

You decide! I am four words short of 50 so this will fix that, hopefully.

 Well it's been a long hard slog with this horse.  Now, almost 5 months later (See Blogs on same subject, Parts 1 & 2) his surgery wound has healed up until it's almost gone.  The vet is pleased with the way it looks.

With his lump gone and months of recovery, you would think that's the end of it - but NO, we've been through an abscess in his surgery side hoof that erupted in his heel, an infection with a temp of 104.6, blood tests to check organ function, and for Lyme's disease and then three-legged lameness in his other leg that was diagnosed as an abscess, navicular syndrome and finally an injury to his flexor tendon.  All that entailed 2 visits with our farrier, 2 nerve blocks, one to diagnose the navicular (which is wasn't) and one to x-ray for fractures and then a trip to an out-of-town vet where he was nerve blocked for an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed a slight inflammation and possible tear in his flexor tendon. 

He stayed there a week and came home to stall rest which he did NOT tolerate very well, then out with a buddy in a dry lot and finally out with his buddy in a separate pasture.  His feeding is done on a mounting block with his bucket shock-corded to one of the steps to elevate it.  He had trouble dropping his head low enough to eat his grain and to graze.  Finally he is eating on the ground and grazing with only 2 more pain pills to go.

It will be a few more months before he is turned out with all the horses.  He will have to show us he can trot and canter without pain before that happens.  Tendons take about 6 months to heal.

One funny thing did happen though...I was reading over one of the vet bills and noticed his name at the top.  His registered quarter horse name is Rb's Secos Music.  And so we call him RB. That was the name I gave the check-in lady at the vet's office.  But when I read the bill later his name had been entered as ARBY.  So now we call him Roast Beef !

We love him lots and you have to when they require so much time and effort, let alone bucks.  He's now worth double what we paid for him...or more, but that's OK!

Here's a series of photos before, with stitches, and now.  Amazing what the body can do to heal!

Some days, no matter what "home chores" you have waiting, you gotta go ride.  The breeze was wonderful, the falling leaves fanciful and the horses were extraordinary.  We live where all this is just minutes away while some folks trailer hundreds of miles to what's in our backyard.  We are so blessed!

All you agents out there might wonder why I'm blogging about this horse and his surgery.   Well, in the Big South Fork area, we all have horses and follow the progress of our friends with their horses, be it problems, progress with a horse, trails we've ridden or where to get hay.  As with a sick child, your mind is always wondering how long this will take to get over.  And your time is certainly impacted by the care it takes to get through an episode like this.  Maybe it is good that most of my real estate activity right now is on the phone.

Another aspect to my effort here is my hope that through the web, others with horses may stumble upon this site and see a sort of step by step progression of healing this kind of wound.  There was an extra trip to a weekend vet to check on a stitch that surfaced.  Turns out it was a subcutaneous stitch and will be absorbed over time - but another trip down the road in the trailer was needed.  Now, back on the farm and turned out with the three other horses, we are in the change the bandgae everyday mode.  Needless to say, I had to make a trip to purchace copious supplies of vet wrap and telfa pads, etc.  And this isn't even my favorite horse.  He's a good patient, though.  He stands quietly for all the doctoring.  Here Jim Little, our vet, sedates RB before removing the stitches.

Before stitches removed.

During stitch removal.

After stitches are out.

Three weeks after surgery.  The wound had opened some after treatment for "proud flesh" and his normal walking around, but it is clean and pink and starting to heal at the edges.  The rest will be just a matter of time, daily care and...well, more time.

Now RB gets a new style bandage. This is shorter and up off his pastern where he was starting to get some irritation.  He likes the new one - "much cooler", he says!  End of story for now.  As with EVERYTHING that is difficult and seemingly never-ending, patience: the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties - IS THE KEY.  And aren't we all in that ballpark right now as Realtors?  In fact, as I think about it, PATIENCE and alot of PERSISTENCE are what separates successful Realtors from "part-timers." 

Some horses go through life pretty much trouble free and then there are others we think of as "high maintenance."  We have 3 steady-eddies and one problem child.  Our quarter horse has some thoroughbred in his grandmother and she has passed on speed but also a few irritants such as low heel syndrome, flighty personality, nerves that make him prone to colic a lot and recently a follicular cyst in the ankle area that kept growing until it was obvious it had to come off.

We arranged with the University of Tennessee Large Animal Veterinary Clinic to have it removed surgically.  We are fortunate here in the BIG SOUTH FORK and Jamestown TN area to be only 70 to 80 miles from the Vet School.  We trailered RB down June 23rd and picked him up July 2^nd.  He has a 4 inch incision horizontally across the ankle which makes healing in this joint area quite tricky.  He was put in a cast to immobilize the ankle and in a few days changed to a splint, then to just the big bandage.  He is a big boy weighing 1305 pounds and is used to running out in the pasture.  So the instruction to keep him in "stall rest" for 3 weeks was stiff assignment.  We are using one of his buddies to graze with him in the round corral to limit how much time I need to spend hand grazing him.  While he is grazing, I clean his stall, change his water and put down new bedding.

Enough of the blow by blow - here are a few photos of the cyst and the day we brought him home.  Monday I get to change his bandage - that will be interesting.

ARRIVAL and CHECK-IN

RB's STALL

Quick course on how to change the bandage.

Laura, the surgical tech and RB's care giver saying goodbye and Brad (owner & husband) hugging him hello.

Heading out to the trailer to go home.

More victims... but we are going home!

Back home - Charm, RB's buddy says hello - where have you been?      TO BE CONTINUED.........

This was another time I was remiss in getting  BEFORE pictures.   Our ½ mile-long gravel driveway has required several fixes over the last 14 years, but we have learned how to institute FINAL fixes.  Everywhere we've applied the FINAL fix, it has worked and we have no more mud and gravel disappearing into the earth.

I swear we have put enough gravel on this driveway for it to surface as a fine roadway somewhere in China.  We had a terrible situation where one side of the tread was almost 10 inches lower than the center of the driveway.  My husband's low clearance VW Jetta would drag the center, so he always had to "ride one tire in the middle".  This finally got too old.  So I decided to do a FINAL fix.  I don't have photos of the "before", nor the way I used the tractor and box scraper to loosen the middle and even out the surface in preparation.

I do have photos of the process from that point on.  After the surface is leveled and sloped to drain, you cart up 40 feet oF geotextile and cut the 14 foot wide by 40 feet long piece down the middle making 2 pieces 7 foot by 40 feet.  Then lay the fabric in the driveway, put some "starter stone on the entry side and call the stone guy. You have to ask for someone who knows how to back spread from the truck.

He arrives; you tell him to make it 3 to 4 inches thick over the fabric and let the rest fall thinner after the fabric until it runs out. 

  Now that you've paid him and exchanged small talk about family, fishing, children, late marriage babies...you are left with still more work to do.  You go to your garage and get your ASV Mini-Track loader and start pulling the stone at the edge into the tread.  There is a lot of stone that gets way off the tread and if you don't pull it back it is wasted.  So about an hour later, after many trips across the tread doing this 4 feet (bucket width) at a time, you finally finish the 80 plus the 30 more feet of stone.

Then you back drag the bucket several times making the tread even with a cross slope so it will drain.  Use the rake to dress up a few spots and you are done.

Back to the house for some ice tea.  Oh, I should mention that my husband showed up on his ATV 3 or 4 times to check on me, bring me ice water, bring me more ice water and some cookies.  What a nice guy.  He was busy at the house preparing for tomorrow's trial...he's an Attorney.

BY-THE-WAY, besides the tractor with the box scraper - these are MY TOOLS OF CHOICE - THEY WORK GREAT!!!

YY

We (husband, Brad and I) retired here in Big South Fork Country near Jamestown, Tennessee to have land for our horses, to ride the hundreds of miles of trails here, and to enjoy the fabulous beauty right outside our back door.  By-the-way...this is exactly what so many of our Real Estate customers are looking for and that's why we at Tennessee Recreational Properties are so in tune with their feelings.

Now, after 14 years, our goals have been met for the most part -  we have 4 especially fine horses as our riding buddies, have ridden most of the trails and yes, the beauty is an every hour, everyday gift.

 Recently, I have really wanted to focus on establishing extraordinary relationships with our horses.  I'll admit Pat and Linda Parelli are the current inspiration and the source of information for what I am hoping for... but I have always been seeking more that just riding.

 Horses are incredible animals.  As Shakespeare wrote:  "His neigh is like the bidding of a monarch, and his countenance enforces homage."  But I digress...

 Plan, principle and time are the key words to the next chapter in my horse-loving life.

My plan: spend more and more time with my horses.  Principle: do this with utmost consideration for the horse.  Time: take the time it takes to do it right.  But I needed a tool - a round corral.  Now I have one - it was delivered this morning.  As my husband went off to town he muttered..."wait til I get back, I'll help you...but I know you won't..."  He was right.  So for the many of you who want to know how to erect a 60 foot round corral made of 19 panels weighing 37 pounds each BY YOURSELF...here goes:

Decide on the center of the 60' circle.  With a tape fastened to a piece of ground rod you've driven in the ground, get on your lawn mower, keeping the tape taught, and drive around cutting the grass to establish the approximate location for the panels.  Check to see if you can pull the truck and trailer all the way around it.

Snip the cable ties holding the chains and move the panels into place with their feet at the 30 foot mark (1/2 60' diameter). Measure this each time you place a panel around the circle.

Go to the barn and find a few pieces of scrap wood to act as second and third sets of hands holding the panel up while you position the next one. 

Fasten the chains that hold the panels together.

Keep going to the next one - finally you don't need the little board helpers.

Finish the circle and admire your work.  The green panels melt into the green trees and look great.  You are done...husband comes home.

I thought this might be of some help.  When you try to Google for help - it's not there.  Guess this is all too simple to have been covered before - it was fun to figure it out on my own.

 Now - once you have finished - go inside...it's starting to rain!  No round corral for the horses today!  

Yesterday our Real Estate Office was audited by our Tennessee Real Estate Commission auditor.  This is stressful anytime, but this one was MY first audit experience as a relatively new Principal Broker.

 Thanks to Leslie Helm, our top listing and selling agent, it couldn't have been better.  As we went through the "closed files", we found small details that were minor inconsistencies, but for the most part we were in great shape.  We ended the day with NO VIOLATIONS and Mr. Auditor went home with his paperwork.

Although the process was stressful, it was also a great learning experience.  We took advantage of having a real estate expert right across the table.  Our questions were answered and we gained invaluable clarification on procedure.  Many times you just don't get that in a CE Class - at least not to the degree we were able to achieve with follow-up questions.    

After a frustration trip to the grocery store on the way home (no roasted chicken - no egg rolls to take home for dinner), I arrived home in time to see this wonderful display off my back porch. 

That made up for everything.  How can you stay stressed out when this beauty is overwhelming?                      

 Here in BIG SOUTH FORK country, Jamestown, TN we are fortunate to have expert hoof care for our horses. 

American Farrier's Association's slogan is: No Foot, No Horse is a saying for some. It's our Trademark...

 You don't appreciate this statement until your favorite horse has foundered and has laminitis requiring the expert care and skills of an American Farrier Association (AFA)  Certified Journeyman Farrier.  Our farrier, Johnny Warner III, travels 50 miles one way to shoe our four and he has done this every six to seven weeks for 12 years. 

 His career spans thirty years.  Johnny is a Certified Journeyman Farrier and a "tester" in the AFA certification process. He has apprenticed several aspiring young farriers.

 He has "put good feet" back under our horses, improving their hooves after poor shoeing by previous owners' "horse-shoers." 

 He's treated white line disease, abscesses, and corrected my Arab's over-stepping which always resulted in his pulling his front shoe off in a trot. 

 Just like a great mechanic who can spot the problem in an engine, Johnny can "see" issues and has the vast experience needed to correct the problem.

 All the while Johnny is working on our horses, the conversation is constant. We talk about the stock market ever since I showed him how to trade on-line.

  We talk about the wars since Johnny is a Army Calvary National Guard recent retiree.  We talk about computers and recent ways to see movie online.  We talk about his horses, our horses, Big South Fork trails and the weather.  We talk the whole 4 hours and have a great time.  The horses are good and Johnny is patient and methodical.  No, I don't think I will take for granted the opportunity to have an expert farrier who consistently is there for any issue I have with my horses feet.  Thank you Johnny!

It's simple to find hoofcare information, but difficult to find information you can trust. Constantly building upon five basic tenets-Education, Certification, Communication, Research, and Innovation-the AFA provides reliable and trusted resources and support for the equine community.

Visit the AFA website for informed hoofcare information.  http://theamericanfarriers.com/home.html