Thursday, May 18, 2017

Walkabout

Necessity dictates that I halter break my foals at an early age. I always seem to be living where I have to lead my horses out to their turn out pasture, so the little ones have to learn to be haltered and follow mama.
Mesa is doing really well. She just kind of adapts to everything. I had her out with her mama today, and ended up leading them all over the place; even up to the house, and over to the neighbours so their little daughters could pet her nose.


As you watch the beginning of this video you will see why it is never wise to leave a halter on an unattended young horse. I don't even leave them on adult horses. 

Meanwhile.... Coyote Belle is getting so big! She always gets as big as a house and I am really curious to see if she foals in June or July. She hasn't started bagging up yet. I'm kind of hoping for a June foal because that would be the dun horse that she was AI'd to and the vet said it didn't take- but they've been wrong before. Guaranteed a black based dun- maybe even a grulla and with her carrying the dilute gene, maybe even a smoky grulla.  Can't wait!

She is still in love with Coulee's baby, and if Rosalee gets too close to it when I have them out grazing near their fence line, she runs my poor yellow mare off. It will be interesting to see how things play out once Belle has her foal. It will change the herd dynamics once again. I may even have to keep all 3 mares separate for a while until the mamas chill out. Actually, Coulee has calmed down considerably thank God! She was pretty nasty at first but now it's just the stink eye and flattened ears when the other mares get too close.

5 comments:

Far Side of Fifty said...

What fun to watch...I would get nothing done:)

lytha said...

You've seen some horrible things. I think a baby of yours died by sticking a head trough metal panels? I'm so scared of metal panels now, I actually strung up chicken wire to keep my horse's head out of them, while the barn owner said, 'These panels came from America, and you're scared of them?"

I wanted to ask about your halter warning. Have you seen horses get their hind legs caught in halters, or did I miss the message?

I often walk away from my fully tacked horse, loose in the paddock, or leave a leather halter on for short periods where I am not there. I hope that all the materials will break in emergency.

When my sister and I were young, we would lure strange horses to the fenceline and feed them handfulls of grass and then quickly get their halters off, and toss them into the forest. We were typical teenagers, who knew better than grown ups.

Shirley said...

I have been at the vets when a horse came in with horrific injuries from having a halter left on and getting it caught on something. It breaks up their faces. And the vet told me of other horses coming in with injuries form leaving halters on. A foal can easily get it's foot caught in the halter and either break a leg or damage it's head in the struggle. It always makes me crazy to see horses in pasture with halters on because the owners think the horse is hard to catch without it, or they just don't think that anything will happen- and that's when it does. Don't tempt fate.
Th panels that Stella stuck her head through were 5 bar panels, just enough spacing that a youngster could get her head through but as she grew and got a bigger jaw, she couldn't pull her head straight back; she would have to tip her head sideways to get it out. A horse on the other side pinned its ears at her and she jumped back and wrenched her head out- that's when she broke the bone at the base of her skull that resulted in me having to put her down. I use 2W panels now, and they are wide enough that it is much safer.

aurora said...

I would have to drag myself away from all that cuteness to get anything done! I think it's a good opportunity to lightly interact with your mom & babies as you walk them out to pasture. Belle has really lightened up, especially her mane. I don't remember that about her.

Shirley said...

Aurora- it's partly the light but she does have a lot more of the silver in her mane this year. She has several different body colours throughout the year, from almost black in the winter to sooty buckskin in summer. This is her milk chocolate phase.