Sparkle, fly spray, and hay

I have added a new link at the top of my sidebar for Skyline Web Design for my friends over at Anchor D Outfitters. Jan does a great job, check it out!

I worked a little with Sparkle today, she absolutely hates the fly spray. I will have to work on this every day until she will stand still while I spray her. Pretty soon she will be too big to argue with, so I'd best be getting it done now!

She is trying to muscle Chickory out of the grain bucket in this photo.

Then she poses so perfectly for me, just before doing this:

Whaaaaat?

And just like her daddy she does a lot of yawning and showing me her toofers!

Never a dull moment around the babies! As I'm writing this I have to keep plucking the new kitten off the keyboard, I think he wants to edit my post!

All the farmers here are going gang-busters putting up hay. I hear it's going to be scarce in Alberta this year, so I might be able to help some of you over there to find some hay, the crops here are good, even if later than normal. I remember how tough it was to get hay there in 2002, looks like it'll be tough again this year due to the late spring, lack of moisture and heat in the peak growing season.

Time to go ride Beamer, so I'll leave you with a shot of the lovely wildflowers I picked today- and then laughed because the next Sunday Stills Challenge is wildflowers!

Sunday Stills-Wings

This was an interesting challenge for me, I got to thinking that there are lots of "things with wings"! Of course there are the usual birds, bugs etc., and there are airplanes, buildings, plow trucks and graders, angels, and yes, there are even wing-nuts! The world of art has long had a fascination with wings, and here in Creston there are many murals painted on the walls of the downtown buildings, so I am sharing with you -wings in art.

There are at least 5 winged creatures in this one, but I get a kick out of the artist doing a self portrait of himself painting the mural.

Of course, the realm of fantasy abounds with winged creatures, like this faerie painted on a bookstore downtown.

Still in the realm of fantasy, we have Pegasus, shown here on Beamer's splint boots.

There is a local house that has a number of stumps along the sidewalk, all of them beautifully carved;this one sports two owls.
But the most wonderful of all is the sheer artistry of flight itself, the stuff of dreams from the dawn of mankind; so here is to God's beautiful and unequaled creation; poetry in motion- a bird in flight.

Balance

Until I started riding bareback this week, I had no idea of just how bad my balance is. Tom Dorrance said the three most important things are feel, timing, and balance. Well, over the last few years, I've developed feel, and I've been working hard on my timing, but never realised how my balance was affecting my horse until today. Of course, I know that balance affects your horse's performance, but what I'm saying is how it affects the way your horse responds to you. The slightest bit off balance, and Beamer's ears turn back to me; Whatcha doin' up there? And then I can feel him trying to get back underneath me, which, under saddle, would feel like just a hitch in his way of going, but bareback it's magnified and turns into a hitch in my way of going- like going to hit the ground if I don't get back in balance! I have the greatest respect for those who can ride confidently bareback, and my hat's off to Stacy Westfall and all those others who can perform a reining pattern, or a jumping course, or even gymkhana events, bareback. I've been doing a lot of trotting, spins and rollbacks, but don't have the balance yet to try the lope. Another thing I've noticed is how I use my legs. I find it's easier to hold my legs in the correct position bareback- mostly because I'm more aware of them. What a difference it makes in my ability to keep in balance when I use my legs correctly. I hope this improves my riding when I'm back in the saddle, it sure has given me a lot to think about and practise.

Thanks Beamer, my teacher!

No problem; I'll keep an eye on you!

New pasture for the girls

It was time to move the girls to the next paddock today, so I set up the electric fence a few feet in from the barbwire and turned them out into more belly deep grass.

That's the Skimmerhorn Mountains in the background.

Must be about as good as I'd feel if I was turned loose at a chocolate buffet.........

Sparkle was lovin' it, she spent some time ripping around, exploring all the corners, and check out this video, she's sticking her tongue out, sassy little thing!

Bareback!

I've been riding Beamer everyday, mostly schooling rides. The flies were chewing on him right behind his elbows, so the cinch made him a little sore there today. So when you can't put the saddle on.... you ride bareback! Now, I've had Beamer for over six years, and I've never ridden him bareback. Inspired by Mikey, I decided it's high time I jumped on him bareback- make that used the fence and climbed on him, my jumping days are long gone! I wasn't sure how he'd go because he is so light with his cues, but he did awesome!

Spins are fun bareback! Tess thinks so too!

I've ridden most of my horses over the years bareback, and when I was a kid that's the only way I rode, but age and infirmity take their toll, especially when it comes to confidence and, more importantly, balance. I think it'll be good for me to ride bareback for the next week or so, don't expect that I'll be doing any loping though!..... Well, maybe a little, we'll see how it goes.

Beamer was being so well behaved, that I let the neighbour's daughters ride in the little grazing pen. He's never had a child up on him either, and he was quite the gentleman. I should have photos in a few days from them. I can't say enough about the disposition of this horse, what a super sweetheart.

Things are getting sorted out here, still looking for a place to live, but that'll come. People are friendly and helpful here, unlike some of the other small towns in B.C. that I've lived in. It's a real networking kind of town.

Ted likes to imprint the cats with the dogs, and here is an example:

Aww, Tess, such a good dog!

Sparkle and Beamer

As promised, here are pictures of how Sparkle is changing colour. She had rubbed out her shoulder when the horseflies were bugging her (pun intended!) and you can see how black she is going to be. But when you look at her face-

you can see how light it is. I'm thinking that she too carries one copy of the cream dilution gene like her mama, and she'll be a smoky brown.

When they are this cute, it really doesn't matter what colour they are!

I rode Beamer yesterday, just loping circles etc., out in the pasture- and boy can he do nice sliding stops out in the damp grass! I've decided that I need to conquer the dreaded flying lead change this year. Beamer knows how to do them but I need to learn how to set him up for it. The trouble with riding alone all the time is not having someone to critique and give me helpful advice.

Beamer says,"Yeah, hurry up and figure it out so you can quit pestering me; can't you see I have much more important things to do,

like trying to reach the best grass on the other side of the fence?

Farrier day

All the horses are sporting freshly trimmed toes today- yes, even Sparkle! We did her first, and although she was a bit of a brat, it didn't take too long to get her done. The good news is that her left hind foot that had issues is going to be fine in another trim or two; he got most of the rolled under flare trimmed off, and the rest will come by the end of the summer. She's walking pretty now! As a side note, although Sparkle looks like a bay in this photo, if you look at the places where the baby fur is rubbing off, it's black underneath, but her face is shedding out the same colour as her dam's, so she will end up being smoky black/brown. I'll get some better photos so I can show you what I mean.

Beamer is trimmed and ready to ride, I'll give him today off and hit the training trail tomorrow. Woo-hoo!

Farriers are a great source of information, I learned from this one some of the issues in this valley pertaining to horses feet; as well as the different weather patterns in the different areas so which areas are muddier, and which are drier, etc., and even got a lead on a property to go look at. Found out too who to phone so that I can go cattle sorting on Beamer, and the where the roping is. Looks like it could be a busy summer!

I leave you with this video of what I have to put up with when I'm trying to write a blog post....

Sunday Stills- Tri colour

Sunsets, shoes, and Chip

This is such a beautiful valley, just look at that sunset!

But a sunset always looks better when there is a horse in it....

Beamer has adjusted well, and I'm getting his feet done on Monday so I can start getting him back in shape. I hope to do some trail riding with Janice over at Own A Morgan; she knows some awesome trails around here, hopefully some where I can ride my horse barefoot, as shoeing is too big an expense for me right now. I actually prefer to ride barefoot if the ground isn't too bad; I'm sure Janice remembers the time I went on a 6 hour trail ride with their group and my mare had a front shoe come off in the first mile of the ride, and by the end of the ride she'd lost the other front. I had opted to keep riding, getting off and walking in the rocky areas, as this mare had the toughest feet, and no, she didn't come up sore or lame. I haven't had shoes on Beamer for two years, and it has really helped his feet to grow properly. They were small and cramped from two and a half years of being shod for showing, and I'm sure they are at least a size bigger now. I'll probably put shoes on him later in the summer when I'll be doing more mountain riding, but for now, barefoot it is.

I got a part time job at a little country store/ gas station, and I'm off to work now. But first, meet our new kitten (Ted is to blame for this one!)

Named after Chip Foose, because of his unique paint job, fading from black to grey.

Wordless Wednesday

New video of the youngsters

The mares are loving their new pasture, and Chickory and Sparkle are growing like crazy.

They love to show off, and I managed to get this video of their antics.

I need to go now and catch up on all your blogs!

Sunday Stills -the last three in one!

Since I'm still not organised after our move ( which means I don't have my computer set up, I'm using Ted's laptop), and since I missed the challenges for obstructions and silhouettes, I've combined them all in this shot for today's challenge of grain silo's or, as we call them, grain elevators. These old buildings are rapidly becoming relics of the past; many prairie towns have torn them down, so I was happy to see that Creston still has these two beauties still standing proudly next to the railroad tracks. It's rather odd to see Alberta Wheat Pool painted on the side of a grain elevator in B. C., but that is how the farmers marketed their crops here at one time. Now the biggest crop here, other than fruit, is hay.

Getting there!

I know I've been AWOL lately but I've been busy, getting organised here and also I picked up a job painting the house of the elderly lady where my mares are pastured, a very nice person she is, and I will probably work there for a few more days. I get to see the girls while I am painting, and Sparkle was so funny today; she was galloping circles around mama and Chickory, almost as if she was in training for a future career as a reiner! Meanwhile, Beamer is adapting to his solitary life (poor boy!) He is so funny, for the first few days he was really pouting and wouldn't come and socialise with me at all, but now he's back to his lovable self.

Hey! You cows out there! You seen my mares anywhere?

Nope, don't see 'em over there.....

and they're not over there either......

and those definitely aren't MY girls!

(Sigh...) guess I'll just have to visit humans instead!

New surroundings

After 9 and a half hours on the horse trailer, I unloaded the girls at their new pasture. As you can see, it has belly deep- make that over your head deep in Sparkle's case- grass, and a wonderful dirt track that Sparkle thought was custom made as a race track just for her!

She was so happy to get out and stretch her legs! All in all, they travelled very well, but they were happy to get out and bury their noses in the grass.

I hauled Beamer to a separate area, in the farm yard where we'll be staying. He's not too happy about not being with his girls- he only has cows to look at there, poor boy! But he has lots of room to run so I reckon he'll get over it, specially when I start riding again (soon, I hope!)

And the dogs, they're just happy any time they go for truck rides!

Off 'n' running (down the road!)

I'm on the move again; I've already hauled one load to Creston, and tomorrow I'm loading up the horses and heading down the road; it's a 750 km. trip, that's 466 miles. I'm so not looking forward to this trip, but at least I won't have to haul anymore trips; Ted is doing the next one while I stay with the horses at their new home.

I got the results back from the coat color test I had done on Coyote Belle, and I was right, she does carry the creme dilution gene- one copy so she is heterozygous, and a dilute. I'm not sure, but maybe some of you folks out there would know; can she throw a dilute colored foal from a stallion that doesn't carry the creme dilution gene? Because it's starting to look like Sparkle is coming in with a really dark coat color, possibly smoky black.

I won't have internet for a few days, but maybe I can post from my husband's laptop. Have a great week!