Beating the 'skeeters

Every evening the mosquitoes come out and the horses start trying to outrun them. Sometimes if it's really hot out, Gussie gets sweated up from running, so I have started bringing them in from pasture earlier; the 'skeeters tend to hang out in the grass, and their pen is a dry lot. Even so, near dusk, the hoards find them, and off they go, around the pen. Beamer, poor boy, is by himself so he doesn't have the benefit of another horse to swish tails with. So, last night I built them a smudge. I took some of the hay that Beamer has wasted, some dry and some wet, and put it near the middle of his pen and lit it up. At first, Beamer gave it the hairy eyeball, so I haltered him and made him stand in the smoke for a minute.

The smoke drifted over to the mare pen, as the airflow was just perfect, and I couldn't believe how quickly they went and stood in the smoke; Gussie first, then Chickory, and then mama and baby. (Coyote Belle is the suspicious type). I took the halter off and Beamer stood there.

It must have been a relief ! No little biting monsters !

New perfume for horses, Eau de Smoke!

Enough smoke filled the air that by the time it burned out the 'skeeters had buggered off (pun intended!)

Ted is going to cut a steel barrel in half for me, and I'll put the smudge in them, one in the mare pen and one for Beamer. Sure beats the cost of bug spray! 

Wordless Wednesday

What I haven't told you....

is that my husband was away for the last week, and for him it was both sad and happy.
 Sad, because his mother is hospitalized, and will be going into an extended care nursing home from there. She is in the final stages of emphysema. He helped his dad with preparations for that, and with moral support. We don't know how long she has, so this may have been the last time he sees her.
Happy, because he met his son for the first time. His son was put up for adoption as an infant, and I won't get into that story, but they finally connected in March, and met on Saturday. I know from my experiences with horses what an impact genetics has, and it sure is true with people too; Ted and Dean are so much alike it's amazing. Even without any contact, they have the same interests, do many things the same way, and sound alike. And. Ted is a grandfather! This visit brought a lot of joy, and I think you can see it in this photo:

He was pretty overwhelmed getting to hold his granddaughter.

We are sure happy that they will all be a part of our lives now. There is another granddaughter too, but she was away visiting someone that day.
So this year is bringing a lot of changes for us.
I mentioned a while ago that a lady had taken some photos of me and Gussie, and I did get an email from her. Here we are!

By the way, the crop in that field now reaches to my knees. The farmers here are working on their first cut. Let me clarify that; that's to my knees when I'm riding Gussie, saddlehorn when I ride Beamer! And first cut because it's been way too wet to cut, and now we have a week of sunshine forecast, so there's swathers humming all over the valley.

Sunday ride

Yesterday was perfect riding weather- not too hot, so I saddled up the big mare, called the dogs and headed down the road to the river. We passed the neighbor's brood mare field on the way, and this time the foals were closer.

One of the things I liked about this ride is that the last mile of it, there are wild roses growing in profusion along the road, such a heavenly scent!  They grow so thick that they cover the ditch, including a culvert that we rode past, and- not sure what it was- but we startled something that rapidly slithered into the culvert! It was probably a family of somethings, because it just kept going! There was enough brush covering the culvert that I couldn't see what it was except color ; greyish black/brown??? Weird.
When we got to the river, the dogs were happy to have their first swim of the season.

Tess is the dominant dog, and she always gets to be the one to go for the stick, and when she brings it back, Sammi guards it.

Gussie checked out the water suspiciously, but didn't take much convincing to go wading, the cool water probably felt good on her legs after 3 miles of gravel road. We headed back, my pack and I, and it sure is nice to have 3 dogs that heel properly when riding down the road, and a horse that isn't bothered by traffic.

Later in the day, I rode Beamer. Hmmm, what a drama queen after my nice relaxing ride on Gussie! He decided that the patches on the road- a darker color of asphalt- were horse eating holes. We got that sorted out, I think riding bareback for the last year I haven't confronted him on any of his issues, but now that we have a saddle for him I'm much more confidant that I can ride him through any silliness he puts up. A perfect example is his behavior when we rode past the mares and they came running up to the fence. He started screaming at them and running sideways towards them- not allowed! One thing with stallions, you can't let them get away with crap like that. I wear spurs when I ride him for just this type of thing. He has to respect and listen to me, and listen he did. I worked him back and forth along the mare's fence until he figured out that screaming and leading away with his shoulder got him in a world of trouble. Every time he gave even a tiny "talk" he had to work big. Eventually he stood quietly and we walked along without a murmur. I think Beamer has gotten a little spoiled lately! So the plan is to work him past these issues by plenty of riding; practice makes perfect.

Sunday Stills

Today's challenge is black and white or sepia photos. Hmmm, I bet you can guess some of the subjects for my photos!

Yep, gotta have some black and white in the black and white photos!

Not to be outdone, Beamer posed for me against a stormy sky.

The textures in my new saddle are interesting  in black and white.

Beamer's wet mane looks almost silver.

Even landscapes lend themselves to B/W.

Yes, Sammi, we didn't forget you too!

My poppy finally flowered- and it's white! I was surprised, and I think it looks lovely in black and white.

Am I....

The pot of gold at the end of your rainbow?

I'd like to be!

Are you sure?

I'll just hang out with mom for another couple of months.....

This'n'that

For those who were wondering who made my saddle.

I've been riding every day lately, alternating between Gussie and Beamer. Chickory is on hold until the round pen dries up a little or I have someone to help me, I don't like to be alone when I'm getting on colts. I've been keeping the rides fairly short, because of the humidity it's hard to cool out the horses after riding. Last night when I went to bring the mares in, they had been galloping around their pasture trying to outrun the mosquitoes; Gus was all sweated up. After she cooled off a bit I took the hose over and sprayed them down, (they were loose in their pen) Coyote Belle took off but Gussie and Chickory were hogging the water. Beamer liked it too. Rio wasn't quite sure what to think of it. 

Speaking of Rio, I phoned AQHA and checked on the progress of his registration. We have a postal strike going on and I wanted to make sure they didn't mail them yet. We did get our name choice of Diamond Rio Peppy, and I'll have the papers sent to an Idaho address. I haven't taken a lot of Rio photos lately because he is in that in between stage of shedding out his baby hair that looks like he is moulting. Scruffy looking! But still pretty cute.

So here is something that is photogenic and cute- this photo is straight out of the camera.

Wordless Wednesday

Summer Solstice

The first day of summer brought  the heat with it- not as hot as Mrs. Mom and the Wife are talking about, but plenty warm for here. Got another ride in on Beamer, and had the opportunity to work him on something that is out of his comfort zone- muddy footing. (Remember, Janice and Crystal, what  a baby he was last year at muddy creek crossings?) He chose to sidepass alongside what he thought was mud, and after insisting on my part, and persistently not allowing him to refuse, he did cross the area (which wasn't muddy, just looked that way!)
He got a bath afterwards, his first of the season, he was all sweated up. Of course, he just couldn't WAIT to roll in the dirt as soon as I turned him loose. Ah well.

The calves were quite interested in seeing Beamer roll.

Sammi is in heat right now, so she is being closely supervised.  This is her first heat, she is 15 months old. I thought she would have come in a lot earlier than this. Reba and Tess were both in heat in March. I keep eying all the grazing available in the farm yard here and wishing I had a few sheep to graze it down..... and give my dogs something to do....but I'd have to invest in proper fencing, which would probably cost more than the sheep! If I could talk the landlord into letting me have some......sigh.

Hope you all have a great summer, lots of riding and family time and adventures!

Gussie and the rainbow

Tried the new saddle out on Gussie yesterday- it fits, but not as well as on Beamer. The breast collar was on the last notch- she's a big girl! I didn't get any photos, but we had a good ride along the edge of the hayfield. The crop is amazing this year, sure hope we get a good stretch of hot weather for harvesting before everything starts falling over. The neighbor has planted one field to corn and I ride the perimeter of it- it's perfect for a quick ride to keep them in shape.
We had another rain shower in the early evening, and were blessed with a double rainbow. You can't see it in this photo, but it was a double, and the whole rainbow was visible, only I couldn't capture the whole thing- couldn't get back far enough. I see I managed to get rain spots on my lens too.

This photo shows it better. (I didn't realize how crooked those telephone poles are!)

At long last... back in the saddle again!

Six months later, I finally have my new saddle! We picked it up on Saturday, and the very first thing I did was haul a certain lazy black horse out of the pasture for a test ride. The fit is good:

I can slide my hand under the bars and it's not tight in the shoulders:

It has a good channel along his back:

and it comes with a very nice breast collar.

I've ridden Beamer in it twice, and find that his problem with the right lead and the right spin are gone; he moves freely into both maneuvers.

Have any of you got this type of change buckle for your stirrup adjustment?  I might just throw a bit of black tape around it, I'd sure hate to lose one.
Tomorrow, if the rain holds off, I'll try it out on Gussie; I think it will fit that big mare pretty good too.
In other news, Velvet has been resold and will be going to live in Alberta near Red Deer, with a future in riding the trails and team penning. Perfect! I'll have a guest post from Jessie on Velvet soon.
The barefoot trimmer was here on Thursday and did all the horses; yes, even Rio! His toes were getting quite long. He did the usual colt panic when he realized he actually had to let someone hold his foot for more than a minute, but got over it. He figured it out and stood like a good boy  as his feet were all nipped, and then gone over with the rasp.The farrier  said that "he has a good mind"  and that was music to my ears.
I'd like to purchase a set of Easy Boot Glove boots and hit some trails this summer. I think a helmet would be a good idea too.

Sunday Stills

The birds and the bees (or other bugs) ..... with rainy days there aren't a lot of bugs visible, especially bees, but I did get one:

The bugs are doing a lot of damage to my peach trees, there will be no fruit this year again.

There aren't too many species of birds here that I could capture in my limited time between rain showers, but there are lots of cowbirds here, and I find it fascinating to watch them hanging around the horses, even scooting under their bellies. The horses pay them no attention, even inches from their faces or legs as they graze.

This bird with the yellow/brown head kept strutting around with his head straight up, bossing the other ones around- I think hes the male trying to impress the ladies.

Rio didn't seem too concerned at all. He still has to stand straddle-legged to reach the short grass, but he is growing into himself.

Wordless Wednesday

Rio "hearts" you!

I'm officially calling Rio's star a heart shape, he has shed out the baby fuzz on that part of his face and the true shape has appeared.

He is going to be somebody's heart horse. Is it you? 

He is going to be a very striking looking horse, black with all that chrome, he'll be a show stopper. So here's the deal: I'm offering him for sale to my blogger people for $500, which will include international health papers if he goes to the US. Because I really want to be able to follow his career. He will be available at the end of August. If you want info on his pedigree, email me: it includes reiners, cutters, roping horses, speed horses, and snaffle bit futurity horses. 

South and west

A while ago, our Sunday Stills challenge was to shoot all 4 points of the compass, with the idea that in shooting one direction, you might miss something interesting going on in another direction. These 2 photos are a case in point:

 I was shooting the amazing ray of light to the west, where the sun was pouring through a rain cloud and the whole scene looked black and white, then turned around to see  this:

The sun was highlighting a snowy peak through the clouds. Two different worlds!

Sunday ride

Got my Sunday ride in today, on Gussie(the people who had her for the last two years called her Sunday) and a good ride it was- with one exception: note to self! Put the border collies in their kennel when riding in the round pen! That circling movement is just too much for them, it triggers their desire to work- Tess went in for a hit when we were loping and Gussie tried hard to jump sideways and lope at the same time and nearly went down. A cutting horse she is not- Chickory would probably have accomplished the move and been 10 feet in to the center of the pen! And me still along the rail! But, she kept her feet, good girl. Went for a ride down the road after that and did something I've been hoping for, we got that little soft jog that is such a pleasure to ride.  I checked the web today for photos of her grandsire, Blueboy Quincy, and found this one:

Doesn't he look like Velvet??? He died in 2008, and he stood 16.1hh.

Velvet

 Gussie's  sire, Docs Choctaw Sabre, was also there. I'm really enjoying Gussie, the more I ride her the more fun she is, and loving mares like I do it sure is nice to have one to ride again.
We are having perfect weather here, not too hot and not too wet, and the grass is amazing. I noticed today while I was riding that the grass was tickling Gus's face, and she's a big mare. It was coming up to my knees when we rode in the hayfield.

Sure hope the farmers get a good stretch of hot weather to put up the first cut of hay.