Sunday at the farm

I haven't been posting pictures of Peppy lately because between weaning and being in a growing spurt he looked all gangly and geeky. He is starting to look better now, and his winter coat is coming in really dark. I dewormed again yesterday, this time with Ivomec, so hopefully it'll get all the bots- which may have been part of the reason for the geeky look. The bot flies were so bad this year, but we finally have had two killing frosts, which has taken care of the fly problem.

I have been working regularly with Andee and making progress. I really want her to trust me, and we're getting to the stage where I can touch her, after round penning for a while. I am not going to worry about getting a halter on her until she is comfortable with being touched and petted. We had a bit of a go-round about her turning her butt to me, so I had to warm it for her until she got the message that it was a bad idea for her to present her butt to me. Now when she changes direction she is careful to turn facing me; if she does forget and turn into the fence she gets worried, but I just chase her up a little and put more pressure on her when she turns like that, and then she willingly stops and faces me. I'm happy that we progress every day. As far as Chickory goes, I am leaving her alone right now. I hope to get Andee sold soon, then I can focus on just her.

Me 'n' Gussie had to inspect the work the guys are doing on the barn; here they are sheeting in the upper part of the overhang. They will trim the boards neatly after they are all nailed on. Gussie didn't mind at all the sound of the air-nailer. I got Ted to take a picture of me riding, so you all can see how nicely Gussie carries herself.

She really is a beautiful mare! Those are Professional's Choice boots on her front legs; I always ride with them. I was asking her to move over to her right in this picture, which is why my leg is back and my hands are so high. I love this mare and wish I didn't have to sell her. I hope whoever buys her enjoys her as much as I do!

Sunday Silence

Every picture tells a story

At first glance, this looks like just any old photo. But in reality, there is a lot going on in it. First of all, all my horses are in it, even though you can't see much of the duns.

Beamer is checking out his pail of Hoffman's horse minerals. Reba is busy stalking the cat, Patch. Gussie is tied to the fencepost, so I can saddle her up to ride. Peppy is tied across from her, eating his oats. Sassy and Coyote Belle are hanging out at the waterer, where they can keep an eye on Peppy's oat pail, in case I might offer them some. The duns are across the fence from Peppy, trying to steal his oats. The barn has big posts in front of it, with a beam laid across them, which will eventually be an 8 ft. overhang in front of the stalls.

Just another day at the farm!

Andee

This morning I got the small pen set up and let Andee into it; she was a little worried about the close quarters when I entered it, but not enough to keep her from her grain. In no time I was able to rub her with my hands, even up her neck to behind her ears; and to slide a soft rope over her head.

However, I found that the pen is too small to properly work a horse with a rope. There wasn't enough room to get her to face up, so I went to plan B- I brushed her. She was good on her left side, and let me do the right side only if she could see me with her left eye. So when I got to the point where she let me rub her right side while looking at me with her right eye, I called it a day. I think our next lesson will be a good one. I hope to brush her all over her back and neck, and touch her legs. I'll probably use the stick to touch her legs first. All the time I was working this filly today she never once threatened to kick, and believe me, I was watching for the signs! I'm liking the mind on this little girl. Although I shouldn't call her little- I think she is going to be a big mare.

Going around with the duns

As I had today off, I worked with the dun fillies again. I started with Chickory of the suspicious attitude. She is still wary, but let me work her at a distance of about 12 feet, when she could have stayed out at about 20 feet. I got it down to 8 ft. after a bit, and managed to touch her with the stick a few times, and even got her to accept it at her face. I quit the lesson when she sniffed the stick. I worked at keeping her a little more quiet today as the footing was muddy. I plan on making the pen a little smaller when I can get some help to move the panels in to round off the corners- I don't have a round pen nearby, so I will make one in their paddock. With a smaller area I'll be able to touch her more and desensitize her, hopefully it will help her get over her fear.
Working the red dun, who we are calling Andee, went really well; she made half-hearted attempts to stay away from me, but was much more interested in checking out her tub of Frisky Foal. Within minutes, she let me rub her on the butt with the stick, then I ran my hand down the stick till I could scratch her on the hips. After doing that 4 or 5 times, we called it a day. With her in the smaller pen I should be able to get a halter on her by the weekend. I have to work at the cattle auction tomorrow, so I hope to get the panels moved on Wednesday.

Sunday Silence

Working the Duns

Today I started working the fillies, using a combination of round pen technique and Stacy Westfall's rhythm. I worked the red dun first after I split the two up into separate pens. She started out quite soft, wanting to face up right away, so I used the stick rythmically to move her and control her direction. It wasn't long before she let me touch her face with the stick,

and after a little more work, I was able to rub her on her rump.

(I think she liked the scratching) and she let me touch her on both sides. It shouldn't be too long before she'll let me touch her with my hands. I know I said in my last post that I was going to try to rope them to get my hands on them, but I think this way will be better for them even though it will take longer. I may yet use a rope, but not until I can rub them all over.

Now Chickory was a different story. She is much more suspicious and less trusting, as you can see in this picture. She never did turn and face me like the other filly did. She is very quick and catty, true to her Doc's Hickory bloodlines

which, of course, is why I like her so much. Can't wait to try that move goin' down the fence! She did relax after a while;

but still wasn't as soft as the other dun. The best she would give me

was allowing me to touch her face with the stick; as compared to the red dun, who checked out the stick herself, sniffing it. I'm not too worried about the difference between the two girls. While the red dun may be easier to start than Chickory, in my experience, when you get through to a horse like her, you've really got them solidly. Once you build their trust, it can only be a really solid foundation because of the amount of effort and time it takes to get there. I'm really enjoying the challenge.

Keepin' me busy

The dun fillies are settling in nicely, although they still take off at mach 3 with their hair on fire if I get too close to them. I may have to separate them and work with them one on one. Chickory shows a lot of curiosity, but she is the first to take off, which gets the other filly going. I may have to rope them to be able to touch them, so today I made their pen a little smaller so that when I do, they won't be able to get farther than the end of my rope. I may have to get a rope with a metal honda before I start. So they will have a few more days of just being free, because I am working so much this week I won't have time to go to the farm store. Plus, I just started work at the local cattle auction on Tuesdays, sale day. Yesterday was my first day there; they have me penning when they come out of the sale ring. I couldn't hear what prices were, but when I asked, they said they are down a little.
Looks like I am going to be really busy in the next while, with two jobs, two fillies to gentle, Gussie to ride, and a husband and two dogs who need their share of my attention! Oh well, they say no rest for the willing!

Shavings for the Girls

This is my almost free load of shavings; almost free because it is 38 km each way to get to the sawmill; thats about 23 miles one way. And gas is about $5.50 a gallon now, so I figure this cost about $20, and lots of sweat! It's hot today, and I was using my muck bucket to scoop and load; much easier on me than using a shovel, but by the time I was done even my shadow was sweating!

I backed up to the shelter wher I am keeping the new girls and bedded it nice and deep for them.

They are still stand-offish, but the red dun is starting to walk up closer to investigate me. I don't have a barn name for her yet, but the dun filly I am calling Chickory. I might pay the $50 and change her registered name, which is AV Hickory Miss. Not very imaginative!

The red filly's registered name is AV Docs Baby. Also a lack of imagination there! I'll have to think up a good name for her; any ideas?

The New Girls.

Yes, that's right, I did say girls. Plural. As in two, not one new fillies. Now, it wasn't my intention to go to this production sale and bring home two little darlin's. I was looking to buy a dun filly who is a granddaughter of Docs Hickory. Hubby was at the farm helping to build the addition to the barn. (A future post.) I went to the horse sale. There were half a dozen fillies who fit the bill, and I really value my husband's opinion when it comes to buying foals; he is very intuitive around animals. So I called him and said,"honey, I wish you were here!" So he dropped what he was doing and came to the sale. He approved the choice I made, and we bought this filly:

Her sire is a son of Doc's Hickory and grandson of Peppy San Badger and Docs Quilchena; her dam goes to Poco Bueno and Johnny Dial.

Meanwhile, I had been chatting with a gentleman who had bought a red dun filly. He owned her full brother , which he had bought at the sale last year. He talked about how much he liked that colt, and what a great mind he had, and how easy it was to train. So when this red dun filly came up at the sale, he started bidding on her, and ended up buying her. Then he says,"I can't believe I bought a mare!" I laughed, 'cause I love my mares, so I told him that if I didn't get the filly I wanted, I'd buy his filly off him, as she is a very nice girl. Well, I got my filly bought, and I was telling Ted this story, and he wanted to see the red dun filly. So I showed him. He took one look at her, and said we should buy her. Now this is my husband, who says we should sell our horses, we don't need that many! But I trust his judgement, so we bought her, which made the gentleman happy, because he lives in Idaho and wouldn't have to deal with all the paperwork of having to ship her across the border.So this is the red dun filly:Her sire is a grandson of Doc O'Lena, with a little running blood thrown in (Mr. Bar None and Pacific Bailey), and her dam is a granddaughter of Sonny Dee Bar.

I hauled them home, and since they were wearing halters from the sale, and aren't halter broke, I decided to take their halters off in the trailer before I turned them loose. I have an open, stock-type trailer, and they were just loose in there. Now, these girls were run in from the pasture, weaned , and run through a sale in the space of 48 hours, so naturally they were a little stressed. I had to put my rope on them and work it so that I could get my hands on them and take their halters off. The red dun, true to the man's word, was fairly easy so I did her first, then the other one, who was a little more worried. They were quite happy to be turned out in this pen (Beamer's winter pen, which is coming in handy!). I left them with hay, grain, water and salt. They really went for the salt! So today, I'll be trying to get my hands on them. I have a little catch pen made of panels inside their pen, so I'll try to run them in there one at a time. This is going to be fun; I love working with the babies! It really makes me appreciate Peppy, who is so quiet that you can do anything with him!

Sunday Silence

Shadow baby

My friend Carol from Prairie Ridge Performance Horses sent me this photo of her showing a daughter of her stallion, Blue Shadow Jets. This filly belongs to a friend of hers who bred her mare to Shadow. Nice baby!

The rope and the lope

Today's work with Gussie went really well; I didn't have a proper roping dummy, so I roped some implements parked in the bush, and was glad to see that I can still catch-probably because it wasn't moving!- and we moved on to the tire:and she willingly dragged it backwards

and forwards. I haven't managed to get the rope under her tail yet; I was thinking that I should put her in the round pen and work on desensitizing her to that; it would beat suprising her and maybe getting in a wreck! I also did some dry work with her on rollbacks and picking up the correct leads. So all in all, she had a good workout, and was happy to stand ground tied for one more picture.

Lest We Forget

Here's to the heroes who gave their lives

helping others

Who struggled through the horror of that day,

and reached deep within themselves, and learned how to pray.

Here's to the victims who died that day

For someone's political agenda, with their lives they paid.

May God have mercy on their souls.

Schooling Gussie and Sassy

I have a fridge magnet that says"a woman's place is in the saddle" and it's my favourite! I worked night shift last night, and got 4 hours sleep then went down to the horses. I saddled up Gussie, and borrowed a tire for her to drag. That went really well; I did it from the ground first, and she was fine so I mounted up and we dragged that tire forwards, backwards and sideways! She was a little puzzled by the weight of it, but just dug in and off we went. Of course, I had to toss the rope a few times too, remembering when I used to team rope. I used to rope heels, but Gussie is big enough to head. She was pretty slick on the gates today too, and I did a little dry work with her, working on 360 turnarounds and rollbacks. After I put her away, I went and got Sassy, and introduced her to the saddle for the first time. All the sacking out I did earlier this summer really paid off, as she was no problem; I led her around with it uncinched, and she was quite comfortable with that, so I went ahead and cinched up, led her around a bit, then took the saddle on and off a few times and called it a day.
My camera battery was dead so I don't have photos to share, but I will tomorrow!

Rope work and gates

I started swinging a rope from Gussie yesterday. I sacked her out with it first, swinging it from the ground and flipping it all over her. She looked bored. I did the same from the saddle. She still looked bored. We dragged the rope from both sides, backward and forward. She still looked bored. When I finally got the kinks out of the rope (this is an old heeling rope, way too snarly) I swung it and threw it. Ho hum, says Gussie. So I figured I'd challenge her a little and we went to work on opening and closing gates. That went really well, she side passes up to them nicely and waits for me to open them, calmly walks through and sidepasses away to close them. This was our third session on gates, the first lesson she didn't know what I wanted and wasn't having any part of it, the second lesson she complained but got it figured, and this third lesson, no problem. I challenged her a little more after I was done my ride on her, and got on her bareback with just a halter, and we did the gates again. It was a little more interesting because I was still wearing my spurs and have to lean quite a bit to open the gate- Gussie is a tall horse, and I'm tall too, so I gave her a little too much leg and she swung her hip too far so I lost contact with the gate, but we got 'er done, a couple of times in fact. So tomorrow when I ride, I'll have to try and build a roping dummy (and find a better rope!) or maybe find a tire to drag like KDW was doing with Grey.

Sunday Silence-me, Al Grandchamp, and Walt Vermadahl

Four leg drive

A good ride

We had a productive ride today, Gussie and I. This is the pasture that I use for schooling rides. We worked on lateral and vertical flexion, rollbacks, and opening and closing gates. I am enjoying riding this mare; she has a lot to teach me. She lets me know if my aids are too strong, or if they confuse her. And she tries really hard to do what she thinks I am asking. Riding her keeps me evaluating just what I am doing on her back; how much leg or rein I am applying-as compared to riding Beamer, who is like operating a well oiled machine after his years of professional training. Although Gussie is 5 years old, she probably only has about 60-70 rides on her. So I am really happy that she progresses every time we ride. I'm going to have to haul to a local arena soon, because I don't trust the footing here for working at the lope. There is one only 5 miles down the road that I can book some time at. That should be fun! This mare is one of the smoothest horses I've ever ridden; I could ride her trot all day. It won't break my heart if she doesn't sell; I'm having a lot of fun with her!

33 Truths about horses

This came in an email from my friend at Prairie Ridge:

1. People who don't take care of their own horses will be the first ones to tell you how to care for yours.
2. You should never buy a cheap girth!
3. A handsome horse who's badly behaved will become a lot less attractive in about 15 min.
4. People who think they have nothing more to learn about riding, hit the ground the hardest.
5. Children and ponies are natural allies and often have identical dispositions.
6. The richest horse people often look the poorest.
7. The closeness of a horse is one of the sweetest smells in the world.
8. A solitary ride through the bush is more beneficial then six months with the best psychiatrist. 9. The worse a person rides the more likely they are going to blame it on the horse.
10. The best thing about going to the barn first thing in the morning is that horses don't care how you look.
11. If a dealer insists a horse is worth twice what he's asking he's usually worth half that much. 12. The best way to appreciate how another person rides is to get on their horse.
13. I can recognize another horse person no matter what town, city, state, county or country I visit.
14. You can never have too many hoof picks.
15. It is not wise to argue with something that outweighs you by 1,000 pounds
16. I'd rather have a horse with a perfect mind then a perfect head.
17. Eight hours is not too long to be in the saddle!
18. If you think you have left the water on in the barn you have, if you think you have closed the pasture gate you haven't.
19. When someone asks you if you like their horse always say yes
20. The happiest people I know own horses, dogs, cats and at least one deranged goat.
21. If you're looking for the perfect horse you will never own one.
22. Owning a horse can either make a marriage or break it.
23. I'd rather lose my Chap Stick then my curb chain.
24. You shouldn't talk about your first place ribbon to someone that came second.
25. If someone says that horse has a little buck, it has a BIG buck.
26. If we need rain, schedule a show.
27. I've never warmed up to someone that didn't want to walk down to the stables.
28. A clean stable and a sparkling horse are among life's great pleasures.
29. Even given away horses can be too expensive. Especially give away horses.
30. No matter how badly behaved you are, your horse always gives you a second chance.
31. A more expensive horse doesn't make a better one.
32. I can't stand to have an empty stable.
33. Losing a horse can break your heart, but it will have been worth it.