Tuesday.....

Summer days

For the first time this year we took the dogs to the river; it's still high and murky so we only stayed a few minutes, just long enough to cool them off, and to introduce Merle  to the  concept of swimming.

I must admit I was kind of merciless to the poor li'l guy, I just took him out in about a foot and a half of water and let him go. He did great! The water was rather cold, so only twice in for him and that was enough. He got wrapped in a towel for the ride home.
The skeeters are back in full force, and I lit the smudge for them tonight after watching Belle throw herself down and roll in the dust and then lay there groaning and complaining; then she got up and went over to the other mares and just stood there and pouted. I watched long enough to make sure it was the bugs and not colic that was bothering her, then I fired up the smudge; I have it in the alley between  the pens and the smoke drifted in to  Beamer's pen first, much to his delight.

He stood there for quite a while, making sure he was covered in smoke perfume.
I'm officially on holidays now, and tomorrow I head over to Janice's with my red roan mare. It's too hot to do a lot of riding, and the mares are out of shape (not to mention the riders!) so we won't be doing anything strenuous, just some easy trails with nice scenery.

Sunday Stills

Fade to black..... Ed's last challenge for us on Sunday Stills.....

Did you say LAST challenge? 

Yer funnin' with me, right?

Awww, that sucks!

We'll just see about that!

Rio

I figured it's about time I did a post on Rio, poor guy hasn't had much face time with Nitro hogging all the attention.

Yeah...what's with that?

Look at that lovely  golden brown! That's one thing about these dilute horses,  they change colour a  lot. 

What am I, chopped liver?

Little brothers are brats.

Actually, they are both good  boys. Rio's war wounds are almost all healed, here  is his left front: (barbwire)

and his right front: (gate mishap)

While they aren't pretty, over time they will all but disappear. Today I'm trimming him, that is if the flies will leave us alone- I might have to get some Off, with lots of Deet.

Bugs're drivin' me crazy- I'm hiding out in my stall!

Raising young horses

It seems a lot of people don't know what's involved in acquiring a foal and raising it to the age where it's usable for riding. As with keeping any age of horse, the first consideration is a safe environment. A pen with solid fencing- not barbwire!- is a good place to start. This can be board, pipe, or mesh fence, or some other material that a horse won't injure itself on. As with adult horses, a good source of water and a safe place to put feed, and some sort of shelter; a run-in 3 sided shelter is usually  enough- like this one I had for Chickory and Andee (now owned by Fern Valley Appaloosas):

That's Andee on the left, Chickory on the right

Once housing is taken care of, that leaves your interaction with them. As a side note, it's always good to have a companion for them, either another youngster or an older horse. Until they are in the summer of their yearling year, most of what you do with them will be just getting them to lead nicely, pick up their feet, behave for your hoof care provider, stand tied, and tolerate grooming all over. If you plan on showing, you can add in training specific for the class you show in, eg. halter, showmanship, in-hand trail, etc. Since I don't show, I can't advise on what you  can do for that. 

As a yearling, you start introducing other things, such as trailer loading, ponying, sacking out. 

Rio trailer loading at age 11 months

You also increase your expectations of good behaviour. If you plan to introduce them to riding in their 2 year old year, then in the fall of their yearling year you can introduce them to longeing for short periods (not too long because it's hard on their joints), sacking out with saddle blankets, and progressing to setting a light saddle on them.

Longeing Sassy as a long yearling

 I like to have them checked by an equine dentist and get their wolf teeth pulled before they are 2.  There is lots of ground work you can do with them as a yearling, like getting them to move away from the pressure of your hand on their side (imitating leg pressure). There are many books written on the subject of training, and I'm no expert, I just do what works for me.

None of this is rocket science, and there is no horse-whispering- mystery involved in getting a youngster prepared for their life as a good using horse. It's all common sense, and treating them like a horse, not tolerating bad behaviour just because they are cute, and laying out a training plan for them. If you aren't confident in being the first one on their back, plan ahead and save enough money to send them to a reputable trainer for at  least a month. Remember, the ground work you do with  them helps to build a bond and establishes your "place in the herd". Start as you mean to continue: if you don't want to be pushed around by a  1100 pound horse, don't let a 500 pound baby push you around. Establish boundaries from the get-go. 

The end result will be a horse that you know the complete history on, one that you helped form, that you know inside out. 

Me and Sundee,  Coyote Belle's mama; my first heart horse that I bought as a weanling.

Nitro

Just wanted you to know that Nitro is still zoomin'! And he is a sassy, handsome fellow who is looking for his forever home.

I have a price incentive for buying my foals off the mare at weaning time; I only charge the same as my stud fee. As a yearling, that price more than doubles.

Also, one of my friends works for a horse hauling company - I can book a ride for  him just about anywhere.
Whatcha waiting for?
Here is his pedigree:
http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/shining+midnite+moon
I clicked on the link to Shawne Bug, and just realized that Nitro traces back to Seabiscuit and Man O War. His love for speed runs deep!

Sunday Stills

Too busy to get a new shot so here is one from my archives for today's Sunday Stills- up in the air. 

We were the lucky ones

There was a really nasty storm here yesterday afternoon; a severe thunderstorm warning had been posted early in the morning, but by mid afternoon there was nothing so I headed to Bonner's Ferry to do some grocery shopping. Coming home, I was running just ahead of the storm and got home just as it was hitting. There was cloud -to -cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning, and really high winds; all out trees were bending again just like they did on Friday 2 weeks ago (what is it with Friday storms...) When all was done, our damage  was minimal, I took this photo this morning in the fog:

Along with some loose siding and a slam-dunked flower planter, and sideways dahlias and beebalm, we weathered the storm quite well. This is what it looked like as I was  approaching home just as it was hitting:

That's the pole shed where the  Ravens live, and our mobile behind it in the trees. Normally, that view looks more like this:

However, just as I  stepped out of the car, the power went out. That would be because there were a lot of power poles down across the valley from us, as well as a lot of trees down. One farm had it's hay shed (bigger than our pole shed) flattened and its shop pulverized. Power was out for 24 hours. I was worried about the freezer, so we were up at 5 AM getting the old generator running, good thing Ted is so handy with old machines, this one is ancient.

Meanwhile, I brought out the old hand grinder  for the coffee beans, and my stainless steel percolator, and we had coffee in style!

There were reports of damage for hundreds of miles, and when I say we were the lucky ones, it's because a boy was killed over at Grand Forks when a tree fell on the camper  he was in. I can't imagine the anguish of his parents.
The horses have their shelter behind the big shop so they were out of the worst of it, except Rio, his pen has the most southern exposure and this storm was mostly blowing south-southeast. But he's ok, just got a little wet. And cranky.
Anyway, the power is back on, supper is cooking, and all is well.

Flowers and the boys

For those who wanted to see the dahlias in bloom, here they are- so far, they are all dark red except for one that is magenta. There are still some buds that haven't opened, and I think they are going to be a lighter color.

My day lilies are looking pretty too, this one is peeking out from among the bleeding heart leaves.

Nitro is looking pretty too, he is about all shed out now, and is quite striking with all that white . His face is two-tone:

and he is still zoomin'!

I plan on doing the DNA test for color on him, I'm curious to what this color is technically.
The humidity here is through the roof, the horses are sweating just standing still. I hosed them all down yesterday and they all rolled and got lovely mud coats, but hey- it helps keep the bugs off them. I haven't introduced Nitro to hosing yet, but it might be on my to-do list for the weekend.
Rio is doing well, all his owies are healing and he is still growing.

He is sun-fading to a lovely golden brown.Once the weather cools off a bit, it will be time to start his ground work. I  think he'll be easy to work with. I'm really looking forward to the time he's old enough to ride!

I'm back!

Finally got my  computer back, The geeks said it had the nastiest virus they've seen yet- worse than the Black Hole virus. They had to wipe everything and re install the basic program and my files- which means that I have to reset everything from my color preferences to my  favorites; I lost all those pages I'd bookmarked. At  least I didn't lose my photos! 

So to bring you up to date, Nitro had his first hoof trim a couple of days ago; I had a friend help hold him while I did his front feet

He wasn't  too bad, but I've never done a colt before so I'll have to check and redo him in a few days. I did Beamer too, and Gussie is next on the list because the first week of August I'm hauling up to visit Janice and go for some trail rides with her; I might take Chickory along and pony her. Her feet are good- no sign of soreness at all- yay!

We had a heat wave here enough to get the farmers cutting hay; but  the ground is still saturated and it's not drying well - at  least, for the farms on the flats, like my hay guy. And then last Friday we got a crackin' thunderstorm that  dumped 3 inches of rain in less than 5 hours..... on all the cut hay.... I may have to find another supplier. 

Tess knows how to stay cool!

Well, I still have a lot of tweaking to do to get my computer back where I want it. I need an affordable photo editing software as I no longer have Microsoft picture manager, which is what I had BC (before the crash), so any suggestions would be welcome.

Q&A, and locked out

First, I'm locked out of my computer by some virus that wants me to pay $100 to unlock,  HA! I wasn't born yesterday! Ted took the computer in to the local geeks and reported the scam to the police. They will try to get a photo of the scam to give to the police. Meanwhile, I'm without my computer for a few days, so... no photos!
I'll try to answer some of the questions from my last post.
CG wanted to know if I breed my foals for a specific task; I like to stick to the original purpose of the Quarter Horse breed, which was a versatile, do-anything kind of horse. That being said, over the years certain bloodlines have proven to excel at different athletic endeavors. Beamer carries the bloodlines of cutting horses, reiners, ranch horses and race horses. Coyote Belle has a very versatile pedigree, including reining, working cowhorse, roping, and lots of speed including an All American Futurity winner. So their colts can go about any direction you want.
Linda asked if I have a favorite among them for a working cowhorse prospect- not really, although I think Jazz and Nitro should really excel in that event. Did I mention Jazz has plenty of speed?  Rio with his size would make a terrific heading horse and should be able to go to the show ring in everything but western pleasure. He'd make a wonderful English horse too, with that floating trot and lovely head carriage.
For trail and ranch work- Kai, hands down. He has that easy going attitude and is so willing to please- but he's no deadhead. I'd love to see him work cattle. Maybe his new owners will get in to team sorting.
Nitro needs to be a barrel horse or a working cowhorse, but could easily be a calf  roping or steer wrestling horse too. Somewhere that he can utilize that great burst of speed he has.
Every one of them should make good trail riding horses.
What I haven't shown you is Gussie's foals, she has two blue roan babies from Beamer. I don't have either of them; Choctaw Peppy is in Saskatchewan, and Peppys Blue Velvet is in Alberta. Peppy is 4 this year, I sold him as a yearling  and he was resold as a 2 year old to a 14 year old girl and apparently they made a wonderful partnership; I'd love to hear from them. Velvet is 3 this year, and I'm waiting to hear how she is going, she was supposed to be started under saddle this year. They are both pretty good sized horses, and should be able to go any direction. I think Peppy is being ridden English as well as western.
I have 3 foals coming next year, and I am pretty excited to see if I get another blue roan from Gussie, and a dun from Chickory. We are pretty much guaranteed what Belle will throw!
And Sarah, sorry, you'll have to keep looking at Rio.... when I get my computer back. He's turning a really pretty golden brown, and I can't wait to show you!

The 3 month photos

There's an old saying that you can tell how good a foal is at 3 days, 3 months, and 3 years. The only one of Belle's babies that is 3 years is Sparkle N Peppy, aka Jazz over at Janice's blog, so I'm posting photos of all 4 foals at the age of 3 months. We'll start with Jazz:

No white on her except for a little bit of silver on her lower lip, and the only foal to not exhibit the cream dilute gene, she is a true brown. I don't have another good photo of her at 3 months, but here she is at 3 years:

The next foal was Midnight Coyote, aka Kai:

Just a little tiny star, and the same silver on the lower lip. He is the smoky brown/black. Side note- he recently sold to a local lady and her daughter, so I'm sure we'll see more of him.

Kai was the sweetest natured colt, he really takes after Beamer that way.

The next boy is Diamond Rio Peppy, aka Rio. He looks different from the first two, not just because of all the white, but he's built differently; he throws back to the Thoroughbred  and running horses on Coyote Belle's pedigree.

2 stockings, a sock and a star make that chocolate hide really stand out. He also has the silver on the lower lip.

At a year old, he is already  the same size as Beamer, maybe even a little taller. Both Kai and Jazz are expected to mature around 15 hands, maybe just a little under. Rio will be close to 15.2 hands like his grandma.
And then there is Shining  Midnite Moon, aka Nitro:

3 stockings and a blaze with a white spot on his lower lip. He is the smoky color too, but he has more light areas like Belle- buckskin on his face and rump. He's two-tone!

This colt seems to throw back to the run as far as his speed goes, but he's built different from Rio- compare the photos- more compact like Kai.
There is another sibling brewing for next year!

Sunday Stills- memories of winter

Ed's sick of the heat already and wanted us to post winter photos from our archives. Since we are just getting the heat now, I'm only going to post one photo; this is one of the selections I sent in for the local calendar:

Stay cool everyone!

New digs and some flowers

Beamer got a different pasture this morning; this one is right next to Rio's pasture... which shares a fence with the mare pasture... which means that Beamer has a happy because he can see ALL his herd, all at once!

You can't see much of Nitro because he is laying down right next to mama

There is only an electric fence between him and Rio, but they both have a healthy respect for it- in fact Rio has tested every other type of fence and has the scars to prove it- so I know there won't be any shenanigans over the fence. Rio promptly showed proper submissive posture:

Beamer went for a little burst, but didn't really check out the whole pasture, he was content just to graze and keep an eye on his herd.

Those aren't birds in the background, those are flies buzzing around his head. On these hot days, I only have the horses out for about 3 hours, they'd rather stand in the shade of their shelter and eat hay, and it seems the flies don't bother them as much in there. 

The other anniversary rose finally bloomed, this is the Graham Thomas I bought for Ted- he loves yellow roses.

I like the way the buds have a pink tinge to them but open up a nice buttery yellow. This is an Old Fashioned Rose, it's a little hardier and should do well here. The blooms are smaller than the Abraham Darby. Speaking of flowers, someone gave me a bunch of Dahlia bulbs. I'd never grown them before and had no idea what to expect. Well....... they kind of took over my garden!

I had to set that fence panel in there to hold them back from crowding out the coreopsis, potentilla, and painted daisies, and that pink flower you see to the left of the fence is my Morden Blush rose- totally buried! I may have to move it to save it's life. I think I'll make a separate Dahlia bed next year, since I have to pull the bulbs out and store them for the winter. If these flowers are as nice  as I think they will be I just may have to enter one in the Fall Fair.

Prayers needed

Go here and please pray for Janice and her husband in Montana, they just lived through wildfire.

At last!

We have a week of straight sunshine in the forecast! I know you folks in the States who are suffering from drought and fires and high temperatures are thinking "so what?" but here, we have had over a month of rain, the water levels are at a 50 year high; in the last week the level rose quite a bit. Remember my Sunday Stills photo of the road closure? When I took it, I couldn't see any water on the road behind it, then when I went over on Monday it looked like this:

The water level behind the dyke up the road from  has come way up too. But with the sunshine, I hope it starts receding, without any rain to feed it- but there is still snow to melt in the mountains, and there could be a big melt this week, which means more water.....
On the bright side, now the fields and pastures can dry out, which means that haying can finally begin, and that I can get the tractor in the pens to clean them. Yay! I hate dirty muddy pens.
Chickory is doing really well, I just need to get her muscles back in shape, she's not using her hind end well, not tracking up. Mrs. Mom recommended an exercise to strengthen her stifles, and it's time to put her back in light work in hand. I got proper medicine boots for her- a gift from my loving sister- so now she can soak in style- no more diapers and duct tape! Aren't they purty?

 I let her and Gussie out on pasture for 2-3 hours in the early afternoon, but they sure get pissy when the other horses go out in the morning.

Check out the watchers- Reba and the Raven. The Jenny Craig pen is paying off though, their weight looks much better. In this photo Chickory looks a little funny but that's because she was trying to get away from Gussie, who just bit her.
The anniversary roses are blooming now, this is the Abraham Darby, which is an English rose from the David Austin series. It smells heavenly!

I love it's apricot color, it looks like it should be in a Victorian setting. The Graham Thomas is only in bud, the rain really set them back.
To all my U.S. readers- have a great Independence Day, and stay safe!