Sunday Silence

Little bits of everything

We continue to be blessed with rainbows here, I guess it's the upside of rain; but we are now back into the hot and dry weather. Tomorrow Ted and I are heading to Eureka Montana to visit the folks we bought Beamer from. We'll be going past the Libby dam, and I hope to get a couple of photos of some of the scenery there.
Gussie is healing well, the swelling in the knee is gone and she's walking normal so now it's just waiting for the cut to heal before I can ride her again; probably a week.
I got permission to ride my horses through the cow herd , so maybe this evening I'll check them on Beamer; I'm keeping an eye on them this weekend while the rancher is away.
The face flies are driving the mares crazy to the point where they are galloping around to try to outrun them, then they just stand around twitching miserably, so I took pity on them and bought fly masks. Not the best quality ones, but all that was available.

The black ones are the new ones; the one Gussie is wearing is a few years old. The mares welcomed the relief from having scads of flies in their eyes, but they were still tickling their noses so they got fly spray too.
The flies don't seem to pester Rio as much.

We had a little excitement here last night. You ever watch the TV show Cops? We should have been filming last night- we had action right in our back yard. We live along a road that leads to the river, where all the party types go on a weekend evening to drink and carry on. About 10:30, we had just drifted off to sleep when I heard the sound of a vehicle pulling into our driveway- fast! I jumped up and looked out the window, and a pickup with the police in hot pursuit stopped just outside my window- stopped, because if they had gone any further they would have hit my hitching rail, and you all have seen how stout that is- it would have severely damaged his truck. The two guys jumped out and ran, and I told the officer- "they went thataway!" I did- I've always wanted to say that!- Eventually the passenger was caught, but the driver got away. However, his truck got impounded; and the towtruck driver was my old boss from the job I worked at last year. So we had a good visit with him while he waited for the paperwork. It was midnight before everyone left. Of course, every time a vehicle went by for the rest of the night, I woke up! Hope you all are having a great weekend, and I sign off with another shot of the rainbow.

We have a winner!

I put all the names on slips of paper and put them in a bowl....

I looked for volunteers to make the draw. 

Pearl skedaddled. 

I put them on the floor and asked Foose. 

He was very suspicious and wouldn't leave his comfy chair.

I took it outside, and asked Thumper to do the draw. 

"Uh-uh! not my job!" says he.

I asked Sammi.

"I'm outta here" says she.

Tess, will you do the honors?

"Pretty tough to get just one, you'll have to spread them out!"

So I did, and after a few tries-

"Just one," says I,

Tess got it right and this is who she picked:

Val- drop me a line with your snail mail address at my email address and I'll send your prize, pronto!

Fern Valley Blog- Hijacked

Sherry asked me to let you all know that her personal email and blog have been hacked. I checked her blog for a split second and found that while it is still there, it has indeed been hijacked. Please don't go there in case it affects other blogs, until we hear back from Sherry. I'll keep you posted.

1000!

That's right, this is post #1000! Who knew I'd blog that long, or that I'd have such a great bunch of people reading my blog. You all have been very inspiring to me, and help me to push myself to set and achieve goals with my horses. I also appreciate all the advice and helpful hints I get, not only on my blog but by reading your blogs too. I've laughed with you, shed tears with you, cheered you on, and sometimes just walked away if a blog was going somewhere I didn't agree with. I appreciate each and every one who has stayed with me, and to show my appreciation, I'm having a giveaway- I'll let you know tomorrow what the prize is after I come back from the local western store. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment; and you get a bonus extra entry if you are one of my followers. Draw will be on Thursday when I get home from work.
Edited to add- here is the prize, a ceramic and steel coffee to-go cup, they work awesome to keep your drink hot; I have one and use it all the time.

Gussie is doing better today, at least she can bend her knee enough so that she doesn't drag her toe, and the heat and swelling are going down a little. I'm pretty sure she clipped herself with her back feet when she was rolling. At first, I thought she had just got the injury when I caught her yesterday afternoon, but thinking back I figure what happened was three hours earlier, she had been rolling up against the compost pile in the mare pen, and I watched as she tried to get up while her legs were against the pile- she really struggled and flailed getting up and may have clipped that front leg with a hind leg, which would explain the shape and position of the injuries. She seems to like getting the leg hosed down; this afternoon, she just ground tied while I hosed her, and even tried to drink out of the hose.
My plan to work with Rio got rained out, but I did have time to ride Beamer, and a wonderful relaxing ride it was. Come along for a lope with me!

Note:  If you don't see a play button, right click, hit "report playback issue" and just exit the screen that pops up, then there will be a play button on the video. I don't know if it's just my computer, or if it's blogger, but I have to do that with a lot of videos on blogs.

Velvet update, and doctoring Gussie

Got an email from Kristy, Velvet's new owner, and she sent some really nice photos of Velvet with her new best friend.

Pretty pair of mares! Hopefully, we will get lots of stories as they grow up together. Thanks, Kristy!

Rode Beamer today, and had a really nice ride- which was nice because when I rode him a few days ago he was a little argumentative. My plan was to saddle Gussie next, and pony Rio again. I could see Gussie at the gate , really bothered by face flies, so figured -perfect- won't have to go get her- but as soon as I got up to her I could see that she had a very fresh cut on the inside of the knee on her right front.

Warning- graphic photo coming up.


It had obviously happened within 5 minutes of me seeing it, and I have no idea how she could injure herself in a pasture that looks like this:

The fence is barbwire, with an electric fence a foot or more inside it to keep them away from the wire:

I walked all around the fenceline and could find nothing.  Aside from the cut, she has two scuff marks on the outside of the leg:

One above the knee, and one on the fetlock joint. Here is what the cut looks like:

There is some swelling and heat along the cannon bone and as you can see, she doesn't want to put a lot of weight on it. I cold hosed her, gave her a tetanus shot, and put a bandage on with Dynamite Wound Balm supplemented by some Young Living oils. When I first saw it, I thought maybe she was rolling to get away from the flies, and clipped herself with either a hind foot, or her other front leg when she was getting up. But that doesn't really explain the scuffs on the outside of the leg. And if she had managed to get her leg through the barbwire, it still doesn't explain the scuffs. It's a mystery to me. At any rate, I'll be doctoring her twice a day and I won't be riding her for a while, so I'll come up with other things for Rio to do other than ponying. And Chickory will get more time too.
Speaking of Chickory, any bets that Gussie's bandage will still be on by morning?

Edited to add:

Decided to give Gussie a shot of long acting penicillin. The cut itself is just the skin, but there is a lot of trauma to the leg. It's evening now, and she still favors the leg so I built her a corral panel stall under the shelter (thunderstorms going on) because I don't want the other horses pestering her if she manages to lie down- probably won't, as she doesn't really like to bend that leg. But I gave her some nice deep straw. The bandage only lasted a couple of hours then slid down; pretty hard to wrap a knee. Since it isn't a deep cut, I'll just leave it unwrapped. Early tomorrow before I go to work, I'll cold hose it again, and leave her in the stall for the day. Poor girl! I hate to see my horses hurting.

Chickory- solo ride

After a hot and muggy day, and my plans to work with Rio melting away in the hot sun, it cooled off this evening and I saddled up Chickory instead. It just felt like the right time to go ride her. A little free lunging to make sure she didn't have any issues, a little riding in the round pen to make sure I had steering, brakes, and the desire to go forward, then I got off, took her out of the round pen, and snapped the long line on to the snaffle's chin strap, and had Ted walk beside us. First time riding her out of the round pen. I wanted a lead line on her because we still haven't loped yet- not going to in my round pen because of the poor footing- and I know how very bored she is in the round pen, so figured it was time to up the game a little. She did awesome, I felt really comfortable on her. We went all over the yard, through the ditch, into the pole shed, etc.Ted unsnapped the line as we rode back to the hitching rail. She was happy to just follow. Right now, all I want to do is build her confidence, and mine in the process. I really need to get that lope under our belt before I venture too far, I need to know that it won't scare her- or me. Usually, that's where it will fall apart if it is going to. I get the feeling that Chickory has been waiting for me to just hurry up and git 'er done, she's a big girl now. The plan is to haul her to a local arena to get to working on better turns and softness in the bridle, and get her comfortable at all gaits. Then we can hit the trails, if I can talk someone into riding Gussie. Woo Hoo!  I've been really looking forward to this.

Sunday Stills- farm animals

Easy challenge this week, but Ed did say to get some unusual farm animals if we could- sorry Ed, just the mundane stuff around here!
Cows.....and calves.....

 Farm dogs who are sure that it's their job to help bring in the horses....

and farm dogs who actually stay when and where they are told to.....

and the reason we've had farm status for 13 years....

Brood mares and foals.

Ponying Rio

It was ponying time today. I took Gussie and Rio to the round pen, and when I stepped up on Gussie, Rio got a little alarmed- I think it's the first time he's seen a rider up close. He didn't want to lead, and while I could have had Gussie drag him, that wasn't what I wanted; I wanted clam, forward and willing. So I asked Ted to help by leading Rio right beside us as we went around, until he was comfortable with me above him, and would let me lean over and rub him. Then Ted passed me the lead rope, and continued to walk beside for a minute, then stepped to the center of the pen. Rio did super! Good Rio.

We went around both ways, I'd stop and Tee up and pass the rope under Gussie's neck, then head out the new direction.

I decided not to pony him out of the pen today, we'll save that for tomorrow. Getting off, I Tee up again so that Rio is in a safe place as I dismount.

He goes through the gate with good manners, after all he's been leading since he was less than a week old.

This photo will give you an idea of his size; I'm 5ft.10 and Gussie stands 15.2 hh.

It was a good day! I'm loving this colt; so is Ted. The cross of Beamer and Belle is an outstanding one.

Rio takes a walk

Rio is 3 and a half months old as of this Sunday, and with weaning about a month away I'm exposing him to things outside the comfort zone of the mare herd. So today, after I brought them all in, I took Rio for a walk.He walked out eagerly, checking out his surroundings. Over a cement pad, through a puddle- well, through the edge of it!- on to the pole shed where he investigated a pallet (turned out that it wasn't a horse eating pallet! imagine that!) and on to the lawn.

He could hear all the other horses calling to him, but only gave one little half-hearted whinny.
We discovered the propane tank:

and then headed over towards the Canine Hilton.

He wasn't interested in lowly ole dog dwellings, so on we went for a visit with daddy.

He and Beamer visited for a bit; (No I don't normally lead him from behind, I was just trying to get a photo!)

Hey, daddy, I wanna be just like you!

Off we went around the shop, stopping to admire Rio's reflection in the fly-spattered window,

He looks terrific in red, I think! Then we headed back to the mare pen, where the girls all gathered at the gate, anxiously awaiting the return of their wonder child.

He did really well. I think I'll try ponying him with Gussie in the round pen tomorrow, and if that goes well, around the yard. My little boy is growing up! 

Thanks, BEC!

The silent Auction is officially over, and many thanks to Brown Eyed Cowgirl for her winning bid of $300. BEC, I'll email you the paypal address for MiKeal, and please email me your address- I'll ship by UPS.

Silent Auction Deadline

The deadline for getting your bid in on the silent auction is 3 PM Pacific time today. I have a paypal address for MiKael, and that is how the winning bid will be sent.  Here is a photo of the drawing we are auctioning:

If anyone wants to help out, but not bid on the drawing, email me or Mrs. Mom and will send you the paypal addy.

How do you like me now? (Rio update)

Well, I couldn't wait for the last little bit of baby hair to shed off, but I think you'll get a pretty good idea of what his final color is. I love that his tail stayed a light color, although by the time he is mature it will likely have more black in it.

The hair below the knees on his front legs is the most stubborn, but it is shedding.

He is very sweet and easy to handle.

I've had him out for walks by himself, and may try ponying him from Gussie this weekend.

I did an early measure on him, and it looks like he'll be a little over 15 hh; but I won't be able to get a true measure until he hits 5 months old in September.

Pretty boy!

Wordless Wednesday

Bear, beware!

Don't mess with Canadian cows.

Velvet moves to Castor, Ab.

Got an email from Jessie, who bought Velvet from me, and the new owner came to pick her up a couple of days ago. Here is her email:

Hi Shirley,

I just said good bye to Velvet and am terribly sad.  Kristy phoned this morning and said she had time to drive out and pick her up, so although I knew she would go one day, I wasn't prepared to say good bye today.  I spent the morning pampering her, which as you know she just ate up every second of.  I already know that I may have made a terrible mistake by selling her....

She loaded like a pro!!  You would have been so proud of her, I walked her up to the back, circled her around once and let her look in and sniff it a bit then she just stepped in and stood there!!  No backing out, no making a fuss, nothing.  What a good girl!!

She gave me the contact info for Velvet's new owner, so I hope we can stay in touch.

Stampede

Note to self- go during the week! There were so many people there for semi-finale Saturday! We went to visit my sister who lives in Calgary before we went to the Stampede grounds, then drove through downtown to the grounds. Parking: $20. Gate admission for two: $30.  Fifty bucks before we even did anything! Everything was pricey, especially the food. $6.75 for a beer, $5 for lemonade, $8 for a skinny hamburger. Take lots of money if you go, folks!
We didn't go to the rodeo, as we prefer the Chuckwagon racing.  But there were plenty of things to do to while away the afternoon, such as buying a ticket on this truck and fifth wheel trailer- that's Ted standing possessively beside it.

We walked through the horse barn, where we spotted this spotted mule (pun intended!)

It was stalled next to the two spotted horses that I featured in my Sunday Stills post.

Out in the midway, I thought of Mrs. Mom and GunDiva when we saw this tank- ladies, how'd you like to fire a round from this baby?

There were some very nice black Clydesdales in the barn, and they put in an appearance during a break in the Chuckwagon races that evening.

We headed to the infield, and got seats high up in the grandstand that allowed us to see the backstretch of the racetrack, and had a great view of the infield, facing the main grandstand. I had to use my zoom to the max to get photos, so the stop action isn't the greatest. During the National Anthem we were treated to a fly-by of a military helicopter and a huge Canadian flag. This was right behind us.

Then it was race time!  If you have never been there, you can't imagine the excitement when the klaxon sounds and there are 4 wagons who "cast their fate to the figure eight and the half a mile of hell" ;

From the start of the race :

to the finish, all you can hear is the roar of the crowd, the thunder of the hooves of 24 horses, and the rattle of the harness as they cross the finish line.
Yesterday, the big winner of the $100,000 showdown was Kelly Sutherland, with his record breaking 12th win. Here is an interview with him from the Association website.

As we left, we were treated to the copper skies of an Alberta sunset over the heart of Calgary- the Stampede grounds.