The weanlings

 Today was the day for the weanlings to arrive. They are Shiner, Jayne's red dun colt, and Gemma, the palomino filly out of Shayla's buckskin Driftwood mare. They are both sired by Rex (Major's Pistol) her junior stallion. This was his test foal crop and her turned out to sire some very nice foals. 

Gemma is heading to the Yukon in a couple of weeks, so we need to get her leading and loading.

The mares came up for a look, but soon lost interest and wandered off. The foals wandered around their pen for a bit- Shiner called out a bit, but not a peep out of Gemma. 

They both seem pretty chill in their new environment. I plan to feed them in the barn, so it was nice that they went in on their own in short order and seem to like being in there. 

Shiner sure has Jayne's beautiful eye. He may end up being here a bit longer as the focus will be more on Gemma at first as she will be picked up by her owner in 17 days. 

Let the fun begin!

Visiting the Beamer\Belle horses

 I had a bit of a getaway this past weekend. And of course, it  included  was mostly about horses. I spent a wonderful couple hours with the good folks who have , over the years, bought 6 of my horses. 

Here they are in all their beauty. 

First off- all the Beamer babies.

For all the Rio fans out there:

He is massive! I think right around 16 hh and probably 13 - 1400 lbs. He has carried his owner  through a lot of events, from 4 H  to barrels and roping and ranch work. He was a flag bearer horse in the Calgary Stampede last year. The young lady who owns him has had plenty of offers on him, but he is not going anywhere. The brand on his shoulder is their brand, some of them also carry the DLH brand. 

Then there is Kai- he is the steady Eddie of the group, the favourite uncle to the young horses who keeps them calm. He is Alana's horse and it is pretty obvious that he loves her. 

Kai is built more stocky than Rio, but he too is a big strong horse. he has won high point in gaming for Alana, and her daughter has used him as a heading horse. He's a big gentle soul. 

They sold Nitro, and I found out that he is now the mount for a 16 year old high school student who team ropes in the High School Rodeos with him, and they are a perfect match. I am trying to find out who his current owner is as I would love to watch them at work. 

Then there is Josie... what a beauty she is!

The one I should have kept... but she has been a really good horse for Kevin, this year she won 2 buckles for him at rodeos, she is a heeling horse in the team roping. Josie is 11 this year. she is not a Belle daughter, her dam was Chickory who is now raising foals for her current owner.

I would love to do a breed lease on Josie if he ever decides to retire her from roping. 

The next horse is a Beamer/Belle son. This was Belle's last Beamer baby, and he is another one I probably should have kept, he and Josie are the two Beamers that literally took my breath away. 

This is Derby. 

Derby is 3 this year and he is already a big boy like his brothers. 

He is another member of the Big Butt club! I think it's safe to say that the Beamer/Belle cross produced outstanding individuals. 

Next up is Minx.

Kevin likes the cross so much that he bought Minx, who is a daughter of the full sister to all those boys. You would know her as Sparkle from my posts on this blog, she was Belle's first foal. Minx was sired by a 16 hh grey Playgun bred stallion. She has the same quiet and trainable mind as her uncles and they really like her. She will be grey. 

This is Kai and Minx:

I think she will have a good size to her as well; Kai is 15.3 hh. Minx is only 2 and has a lot of growing to do yet. 

Then there is Pistol; he was the buckskin foal from Belle and sired by Rollin In My Dually, she was in foal with him when I bought her back from Fleetwood Farms. 

Pistol is another big soggy gelding rope horse for Kevin, and he's doing very well with him. Pistol has a bit of a different look to him than the Beamer sons.  Kevin loves him and says he will never part with him either. 

Knowing that the horses I raised are so valued by their owners, and that they have become excellent performance horses is all a person could ask for when it comes to raising horses. I have been blessed in this venture over the years. Finding a family who kept buying them and promoting them and loving them is all I could ever ask for. 

Oh, and one more thing- knowing that they are all happy, healthy horses. 

Derby💖 He got Beamer's head but Belle's ears

It was great to visit and catch up with them. I am going to try to get to one of their ropings so I can get some photos of them in action. If not this year then maybe next year!

Nature's beauty (horses included)

 The chiro lady came and adjusted both mares. Gussie had adjustments from head to tail- poll, atlas, ribs, hips and knee and other points in between! I decided to get Velvet done too, she wasn't too bad; her neck and some ribs and a mild adjustment in her hips- the lady doesn't get too intense in that area with mares who are in foal. I gave Gussie a couple of days off to get used to it and any soreness as a result. 

I have been working on the obstacle course, only 3 things set up so far as I have to scrounge for materials ; trying to do this without buying anything. 

Shayla brought home a new filly- this one is by the same sire as Drifter (remember the palomino roan stallion we had and sold) and she is a match for Gussie!

The new filly (Patsy)

Patsy has higher back stockings and a front stocking  but they sure look similar! Patsy is a weanling, it will be fun to see how she looks all grown up. She has the same quiet disposition that Drifter had. 

I went for a walk checking fences last week and it was a bit of a nature walk for me. I got some lovely shots of the lazy Medicine River that meanders along, bordering the farm. 

 We have beavers in the area but they don't build dams. 

This is a big old poplar tree that they chewed down. 

The grass in places was 6 ft. tall, it was hard slogging! There have been a lot of geese lately, and some interesting clouds. 

The next one is a sunset. 

We have had a lot of misty mornings, and at this time of year the sunrise is right at the end of our driveway. 

Last night's supermoon arose in nearly the same place, but I waited until this morning for a photo. 

Speaking of nature....

Guess who?

Yup those marauding bandits are back. The racoons couldn't get into the cat food tote by prying the lid off (see the chewed corner?) so they tipped it over and jumped on it until it broke. I was wondering how long I would get away with having it right next to my cat feeding station. Now I have it in the feed room that so far has proven to be racoon proof. 

Gussie let Thumper back on her- it has been a while since she agreed to that!

Doin' stuff

 Good Sunday morning!

Woke up to 0C degrees; fortunately  a heavy dew kept the frost away and my tomatoes survived. 

Yesterday I joined Shayla and baby Arthur to audit a clinic on halter breaking an untouched weanling and trailer loading a hard to load horse. It was a good review for us. The clinician was Ryan Butterwick, he was in a colt starting  competition in Pennsylvania  a couple months ago and came in second.  He has been starting colts for a couple of decades. I liked the clear way he presented what he was doing and the results he got were testimony that the colt understood  what was going on.  

There was a free lunch and door prizes, and we each won a bag of Cool Care feed.

This will be great for Gussie; I have to keep her on pro/prebiotic as she has fecal water syndrome  if I don't,  something she has had off and on all her life.  Sensitive red head!

I have a chiro coming to adjust her later today. This lady is licensed for people and equines so I expect  she will do a good job. It will be interesting to  see where Gussie  needs work;  I think the major area will be her neck. 

We got rained out so I didn't  get the mailbox ride in. Today I  am going to set up an obstacle course in what was Beamer's  turnout pen; Ted mowed it so it will be perfect and so much bigger than using the round pen. It will give me a purpose for riding- I  always  like to have something to focus on. 

Velvet is smart

 The barn swallows left yesterday, except for one lonely one twittering away on the wires by the barn. There is no silence, however, as the geese are gathering and filling themselves on the grain left behind by the combines as they prepare for their long migration south. Why is it that geese can't fly without honking? Hmmmm. Other songbirds were gathering on Saturday and by Sunday the robins and Goldfinches were gone too. 

The smoke has returned, painting the evening sun red and the morning sun too stood out red ,although for the life of me I  couldn't  portray its true color in a photo. 

Gussie continues to have opinions about being ridden. When the saddle pad goes on she pouts and fidgets, so I wait until she stops and then I take it off. Eventually she gives up so I saddle her. She does move a bit when I do, but just a little, so I don't do it up right away but wait for her to settle. Such an expressive horse, she leaves no doubt about her feelings!  My key word for this year is patience, and having patience and a peaceful mind is the way to deal with an impatient horse. 

Meanwhile, Velvet is watching carefully, and after having been ponied the other day, she was quite certain that it was just fine for her to wait at the barn while Gussie and I went out onto the 15 acre pasture for a tour. 

We had a nice ride- there sure is a lot of grass left out there so I am letting them back in there to eat it down until the snow flies. 

Velvet was watching from the barn that you can see between Gussie's ears

For perspective, this is a view from where Velvet was, we were out beyond the power pole by the quonset. Gussie was a bit impatient on the way back, she gets into a little slow jog and bows her neck when she wants to hurry but isn't allowed to. Back at the barn we worked on haunches turns, two tracking  and several other things to keep her mind in the middle before letting her stand and relax. 

Yes I know my saddle pad was off center but I decided to ride like that anyway as it was a short ride. 

I however am getting bored with these short rides so I may just have to ride to the mailbox tomorrow for something to do and maybe a tour of the hay field. Ted can keep an eye on Velvet for me. This business of having two horses is not my style, I like to have 3 so that the one left behind has company. I don't like stressing them out if I don't have to and Velvet is too old to make any changes in her. So I have been actively looking around to see if any of Velvet's daughters are for sale. She had 6 fillies and 4 colts before Theo (which makes me more hopeful that her last foal will be a Beamer filly!) So far, one is in New Brunswick, one is a competitive youth barrel horse, two I can't track down the registered owners and two were never transferred into the buyer's name. I do have the person who raised them trying to find out info on them for me. If I end up with one that is rideable, I may retire Gussie and let her have another foal. Unfortunately, she didn't allow Beamer to cover her this summer when she finally came into heat.

We do have a plan to bring a couple of Shayla's colts here for halter training, so that will keep Velvet occupied while I ride. And it will be fun for me!

New routine and a Theo update

 Change is in the air with fall on it's way- today is the last of the 30 C (86F) temps in the forecast. The poplar trees are starting to get yellow leaves, but everything else is still in summer mode. I m hoping that the frosty nights will stay away for a while so my garden can mature- that June 1st frost was a big setback. I really would like some vine ripened tomatoes! But if not, I will be making a batch of green tomato mincemeat. Yum!

I never was after roan horses, I always liked the blacks and the bays best, but now, I have two red roans to look at, and I sure can't complain! I have put Gussie back to work, short rides so far and she isn't excited about having to earn her living now. She  probably thought that at age 21 she should retire!  I won't work her hard, just enough to keep her and me in riding shape. So far I will only be riding on the 20 acres of pasture we have, and maybe up onto the hayfields and the sand pit area, depending on how Velvet reacts. I think she will be fine, but she really doesn't like being alone and may get a little frantic if Gussie gets out of sight. 

We don't do frantic.

They do hang out together a lot, but I notice that they do wander away from each other either for grazing or to go back to the shade of the barn. 

The first day I invited Velvet to come along, which she did until she became bored and stopped to graze  and then head back to the barn. Gussie was certain that she too should be done with being ridden, but mean ole me had other plans. I headed close to the barn and put her to work so that the barn would not be the place to quit. 

As you can see, Gussie is quite disgusted that she has to work for her living these days!

Yesterday, I decided to pony Velvet  and take a bit of a longer ride. Velvet of course, was Not Impressed! Once I got her lined out (she thought she should lead) she was fine. I let her go after a while and continued to ride while she went back to the barn. She is still moping a bit about Theo leaving. 

Since Gussie thought she should follow Velvet, I rode partway to the barn and used it as a place to put her through several exercises, so that she doesn't think that going back to the barn is such a good idea- I think that will continue to be part of our rides as Gussie has a history of being barn/buddy sour. 

Today I will ride out alone and see how that goes. Riding Gussie is all about getting to her mind; she's an emotional girl and being a red head isn't afraid to let her opinion be known. I think I will be doing a lot of away and back, away and back, to help her mentally. 

Now for a Theo update: the hauler reported that he travelled well,  ate and drank well and was easy to load and unload, and Jared (his owner) said that he didn't seem to lose any weight.  He settled in well, slept good and is just being that chill good boy that he was here. He is across the fence from 4 minis, and will be getting turnout with them and will be taken on walks with a warmblood weanling who will be his pasture mate soon. 

Aren't they cute little toe rags!

Today was the day

 Theo's person came to see him and pay for him last week. 

He was quite smitten

He has a gentle hand and seems to get along with Theo. He had to book a hauler for him as his own truck is in for repairs. He also brought a leather halter (as per the hauler's request) and a tube of Gastroguard for Theo.

The hauler for Theo was scheduled for around 9 am today. Around 8:30 I looked out the window and got a surprise.....

Stray cows!  Theo and the girls were quite surprised too but didn't  get overly excited.

But I  thought it might make loading Theo difficult if they were hanging about; fortunately they moved off to the hay field so issue averted. 

I brought Theo out for a few farewell  photos. 

When the trailer pulled in they had a couple of horses in there so of course all the horses got to calling. This is a 4 horse head- to - head set up with a box stall in the middle so that was where Theo would travel. He wasn't  impressed with having to go up a ramp so we brought Velvet out and loaded her. He loaded with her but as soon as she came out he did too, so I  just held Velvet beside the ramp and we used his grain  to get him to go in by himself. A couple of tries at that and I  was able to get the ramp and windows closed while the hauler held Theo in there. 

Of course  once he was closed in the hollering began. 

Velvet paced and hollered for about 15 minutes before she gave up and she's  been quiet ever since.

Gussie was calm and quiet so I  think that helped Velvet to calm down. 

Theo will have a 2 day trip to his new home, overnighting in Kelowna before heading to Vancouver Island. 

Sure is different here with no stallion and no foal!

A card

 My sister Margi, who visited here to pick up her kittens (the kittens are living their best life now!) got to meet Beamer . When he passed, she very kindly did a little painting of him from the last photo I took of him, and made it into a card and sent it to me. 

How beautiful and thoughtful is that! The painting reminds me of Beamer as a young horse, although it also combines elements of him as an aged horse. It looks like he is emerging from darkness into the light of eternity, just as we do when our time comes. 

Thank you, Margi 💙