I have an excuse...

 for not posting in a week. I have been busy fencing. We have so much grass here and if I don't get it grazed down it just dries up and becomes a fire hazard. So we fenced off a few acres for the mare's next pen as their original one that they have been grazing since winter is getting short. 

I had a supervisor doing QA and QC. 

Better turn that insulator a couple more times!

We put in 30 posts and 3 strands of hot wire rope. The heat is brutal  so I could only work in the mornings, and 1 evening. But we got it finished today!

That board fence in the back is where their first pen was. We only had to fence 2 sides of this pen. 

Happy mares!

They only grazed for a short while then went and hid out in the shade of their shelter to get away from the biting flies. They have lots of distance to go for shelter and water, so they won't just be filling their faces 24/7. I may lock them out of the new pen and just have them in their shelter pen at night if they get looking too... fluffy. 

Velvet is 29 days post breeding and hasn't come back in heat. I will keep checking her for a few more days just to be sure. I will start checking Ruby back around the 17th. For inquiring minds, I just lead the mare to a safe spot over the fence from Beamer and let him holler at them. If they aren't in heat they let him know- pinned ears, striking etc. If they are in heat, they squat and pee a little bit. 

We have a heat warning for the next few days. I want to get back to working Ruby so it will either be early morning or evening for that. I did take her out for another ride, but she was nervous so I kept it short. Not having someone to ride with makes me more cautious with a mare I don't know really well yet. I found a good post by Martin Black on ways to work from the ground to get her more focused on me that I can do in the round pen, so that will be the next step. I think a horse that is worried on the trail or riding out alone isn't connected with and trusting in the rider, so it looks like I have a lot of work to do with her before we get to that point. 

I found a guy locally who does feet/teeth/bodywork as a combined way of assessing the horse so I may haul over to him. Ruby is very stiff laterally in her neck, which may be from the years of needing her teeth done. I think my next step with her will be to do a lot of the Masterson Method on her first before I spend the money on anything else. See what I can do myself first. 

She had become much more friendly and wanting to interact with me. Even lets me touch her face - I attribute that to  having her teeth done and a bit of hand feeding a bit of grain. I want them to come to me, even if I have to treat to make it happen. Build the desired behavior and  let it become a habit. 

We have a bunch of new birds around here. We have seen Baltimore Orioles, blue Herons, Gold finches, several birds I can't identify yet and of course baby birds like these starlings. 

It may be difficult to keep the cats from getting them when they start to fly. May have to lock them up in the barn for a couple of days. 

Mr. Innocent.