Velvet's new home

Jessie emailed me some photos of Velvet at her new home, apparently she wasn't afraid of the sheep or the llama (good Velvet!) but she did chase the sheep around. (My collies would be jealous!)

I think Jessie and Velvet are going to make a pretty good team, and I sure hope they do a blog - she'd have some instant followers! Of course, sheep and Australian Shepherds would be a great part of it too, so Jessie- we're putting the pressure on here- we hope you do a blog!

We measured her just before she left our place; she stands 1/8 inch under 15 hands.

She looks right at home!

Wordless Wednesday

He does stand still...

sometimes, but not often when I have the camera out- he really does like to ham it up. Sarah commented, "Does Beamer ever have all four feet on the ground?" See, Sarah?

He's pretty dirty in this photo, I can't wait for it to be warm enough to give him a bath and have him all glossy black again.
 I took this one the other day- does two feet on the ground count?

Beamer

My plans for a ride were waylaid by rain, but the sky cleared later in the day. I brought the mares in from their pasture and put Beamer out there so he'd have some room to run for a change. Of course, he had to sniff all the mare pooh first- very important job for a stallion!

I didn't get a photo good enough to replace my header photo, but he did dance around a little for me.

Can I run and sniff at the same time?

Lookin' pretty buff, B-Boy!

When I turned him out this morning with Url, he made a point of chasing Url away from the hay pile.

Now that he knows he can move a cow, I really want to do working cowhorse with him. That would be just too much fun!

Tonight I start my foal watch. She's not too close yet, but I want her accustomed to me puttering around out there in the middle of the night. I also spent some time on AQHA's website researching foal names, now I just have to wait and see what I get, to see what name suits. If you haven't entered my contest yet, head on over to my sidebar and put in a guess.There's plenty of combinations left available!

Sunday Stills

It's all about blue today- that's an easy one around here.

Velvet licking the salt block

Reba has beautiful true blue eyes

Pearl does too!

I think my favorite blue thing this week is the navy blue vintage style western jacket I bought at the thrift store for $3.

Last but not least, from my archives, Peppys Blue Velvet, in all her blue roan beauty.

Lovely day

I thought we were going to be socked in with rain today, we even had a couple of snowflakes (gasp!) but it cleared off and was the warmest day yet- about 15C. I went with the folks who bought Kai and hauled hay for them and us, and got a quick shot of Kai munching his hay.

He's still just as cute, only really shaggy- typical yearling. Remember this photo when he was only about 3 weeks old?

 I saddled up the red roan and rode the fields here- there's 80 acres all cross fenced into a half a dozen paddocks. The fence was all good, but there's still water in the low spots. The green is starting to come though. After that, we went a mile or so down the road at a rising trot. Nice loose rein, willing horse, and sunshine. On the way back I asked for collection- I don't expect her to hold it for real long as she is out of shape, but we worked on it, at a sitting trot. Gussie kept diving into the bit and speeding up at the same time, but I think that's something that will change after she gets strong enough neck and back muscles to hold frame. Hey Gail- I think I'll use her for my English lessons this year! Back in the yard, I asked for some turns on the haunches- she falls out of it about 3/4 of the way around- and called it a day- a good day. I need to get Gussie to the arena soon for some schooling, Chickory too. With this nice weather, I just want to be out riding!
The mares were goofing off when I brought them back into their pen this afternoon.

The race is on!

Striking a pose

I took lots of Velvet pictures because she'll be leaving soon, maybe less than a week. You can see that her color is much lighter now as she sheds out. 

Poor Beamer has been neglected lately, so I plan on riding him tomorrow. Then maybe he'll get some turn out time in the mare's pasture after I bring them in- I need a new header shot!

Baby Bumps

 I was brushing Coyote Belle after I brought the mares in from pasture, and baby was kickin' pretty good, so I managed to film some of it. I lay my head on Belle's side and talk to the baby. I already have a name if it's a filly, but I'll wait until it's born before I say what the name is- it might not suit. I'm getting excited! I love the babies.

Spring cleaning

With apologies to all my snow-bound friends in Alberta, it was finally dry enough and thawed enough here so that I could clean the horse pens. Here's a before shot:

This is Beamer and Url's pen, and that's the shelter that the wind moved. After 3-4 hours I got this pen and the mares pen much more presentable, and even managed to scrape up some composted soil for the low spots on our lawn. Url thinks it's just fine....

All the time I was on the tractor I kept wishing I could spend the nice sunny day riding, but figured I'd better get it done because there's rain in the forecast, and I don't need to be making muddy ruts!
After this weekend, it's time for me to move to my "mare motel"- the camperette I'll be bunking in until the foal is born. It's only 6 feet from the pen, so I will be able to hear her. Both her foals required a little assistance, so I like to be there when they are born.

Tess thinks she should bunk with me

I'm hoping Belle will foal early this year! She's getting huge, and very uncomfortable. For those of you who haven't entered the foaling contest yet, hop on over to my sidebar and put your guess in; I've arranged them in chronological order, and there's plenty of info in the post it links to. Pictures of the prize coming up soon!

Wordless Wednesday

A visitor

We had a little visitor yesterday- remember this pup- Janice was thinking of picking her.

This is Billie, and she is one of the pups I sold locally. Her owner stopped by yesterday for a short visit, and amidst a flurry of canine activity I manged to get a couple of photos.

She has a beautiful long coat and lighter brown eyes.

Her usual playmate is a wolf cross, and apparently Billie rules the household- no surprise to me, Border collies are very territorial. Her human takes her to the old folks home when she goes there to sing for them, and Billie is a big hit there. It was nice to see  that this pup is in a good situation, and well loved. Her owner wants to do agility with her, but we are going to have to start a club if that's going to happen.

Barefoot trim for the roans

Saturday, the barefoot hoof care provider (Scott) from across the lake came here. Velvet's new owner tracked him down and wanted him to do Velvet, so I figured I'd hire him to do Gussie. I want my current farrier, Matthew, to learn more about this, so I invited him to come over but he didn't make it. While we were waiting for Scott, we spent some time grooming Velvet and I brought Beamer out to show him off (of course!) So I'd like to introduce you to Jessie, Velvet's new owner.

Velvet is just lapping up the lovin' from Jessie!

Yep, she got to ride Beamer too!

When Scott got here, he did Velvet first. I asked how her feet were, and it seems Matthew is on track, the only thing Scott did differently was the way he beveled the hoof wall when he trimmed it. He said Velvet had good balanced feet, and a good start on her sole callous.  And no, I didn't take any photos.

Then he did Gussie; now my plan for Gussie is to keep Scott doing her, while Matthew continues to do my other horses, since I do like to be loyal.  Matthew hasn't been here since we brought Gussie home. I asked Scott about programs in Canada for training and he said there is a new organization, the Canadian Hoof Association, that is working on setting up training programs, some for existing farriers, and some for learning from the beginning. He is going to send me a link to their website, which I will put on my blog. Apparently there are only 5 properly trained barefoot trimmers in Canada. 

With Gussie, this is her first transitional trim. We found something interesting- her left front and left hind both had a bruise on the frog. Huh? Frogs don't bruise! Scott figured it was from last summer or fall, something higher up that had grown down through the frog, and he also thought it may be metabolic rather than an injury.   I don't know what she was eating last year, perhaps grain or high sugar content in the pasture grass. It will be interesting to see if it grows out without any problems; she is starting to shed her frogs. 

Also, he had a fit kit for hoof boots, and we checked it out- she wears a 1.5 Easy Care Glove boot. I intend to get her a pair this summer so I can hit the mountain trails with her. A pair of them is just a little more than the cost of a full set of shoes, and will last a long time. No more shoes on my horses! I'm hoping that Beamer will wear the same size but I think he's probably a 1. He'll get a set too. 

This is the first day of spring, and so far, it's looking good! Now I'm off to clean up my smaller flower garden , and do some pruning on my fruit trees.

Sunday Stills

Our Canine companions are the subject of today's challenge- well, thank you very much, Ed- a subject dear to my heart! My dogs accompany me all around the farm, and are quite good at staying where I park them when I do my chores. But if I don't pay attention to them, they are busy little collies, doing outruns and trying to herd the horses! So I like to park them next to the hay pile while I feed.

It's not a great photo, but it does show them parked and staying!
When I'm done chores, they get to play, and that's where I had fun taking photos- hope you enjoy them!

They move so fast my poor li'l camera can't stop the action in poor lighting!

Tess let Reba catch one!

8 legged dog!

Much better photos when they aren't moving!

Sammi is still for sale. 

Can we pleeeeeease play some more?

Can it be?

It sure seems like spring has sprung here. The geese have been descending on the neighbor's hayfields in the thousands, along with some swans; the fields have a lot of standing water in them and the birds are loving it.

The pasture has some standing water, but there's plenty of grazing for the girls, and they are loving their daily turn out.

There are plenty of plants sprouting in my flower gardens; the bleeding heart, day lilies, poppies, sedum, and columbine are all sending out new growth. The garlic I planted in my vegetable garden last October is sprouting like crazy. Although it's still about 7 weeks before I can plant anything new, I 'm already excited and imagining all the neat things Id like to plant. Like some Lavatera, and Galliardia, some more of those sun tolerant begonias that Janice gave me last year, and maybe even some sunflowers! I really want to attract the birds here.
Well, I'm off to see if I can get some photos of that "supermoon" that's filling the night with light.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Stills

Today's challenge is anything that starts with the letter P- including people, places, and things.  Well, that was pretty easy here- it's all about Puddles! We had heavy rain for a couple of days, and with the ground still frozen it all accumulated into puddles.

Not sure if this could be called a Puddle- more like a Pond! It was feeding time, and Gussie and Velvet had to wade through the water to get to their feed. They didn't want to go- they might get their Princess toes wet!
But they did come through- they love their groceries!

Fortunately, there was enough high ground for feeding, and the water did recede after a day or two.

The Puddles were also a Place for the dogs to Play- with the ulterior motive of washing the mud off them I coaxed them into chasing their ball into a big Puddle!

Tess was the only one who was brave enough to wade in and get the ball, but all the dogs didn't think twice about motoring at Mach 1 through the barnyard tea Puddles when they thought I needed help gathering the horses!
Last but not least, I leave you with Perspective- Beamer style!

I can almost see spring from here!

The recent heavy rains have melted a lot of the snow, so I was able to turn the girls out in their pasture today. Good thing, because there is a lot of water in their pen still, it has nowhere to drain because it's so flat here. Check out my Sunday Stills post tomorrow to see the water...... anyway, the ladies were happy to get out where there isn't any mud, and even though there is still a little snow and ice, they were really enjoying the change of scenery.

Chickory doesn't get much face time here, so I thought I'd give her a spot here.
They checked out the water tub that has been sitting there all winter, it has a floating ice top to it and they had fun bobbing the ice for a drink of water.

I took advantage of the situation for a butt shot!

I spent a lot of time scooping up yard cigars, and noticed a lot of ravens flying around, and in the distance I could hear the explosions from the Avalanche Control cannons. There have been snow slides  lately due to the softening of the snow pack, and one across the highway south of Fernie had highway 3 closed for a while.  Glad I don't have to travel through any mountain passes right now.

The snow is disappearing! Pretty soon you'll be seeing green in this view...... just can't wait......