New trail and a switcheroo

Headed out a couple of days ago for my first real trail ride of the year. Gussie and I and Janice and Jade, and their dog Gus went to McGinty lake which is a nice ride through widely spaced Ponderosa Pines and lots of wildflowers (which I didn't get photos of!). We rode about 2 and a half hours which was perfect for my out of shape horse and my butt .

There be mountains in the distance!

Both horses knew there were other folks out and about even though we couldn't see them at first. 

Jade and Gussie are the same age, 16. Jade is a Morgan. Ain't she pretty? There was something she was alerting on that we couldn't see- maybe it was the skunk that we kept getting whiffs of as we ate our lunch by the lake.

Gussie, however was busy with her own lunch!

I got a kick out of Gus (the dog) who had to go into every bit of water he could find- whether it be a mud puddle-

or the lake, where he happily bailed right in and swam around just for the joy of it. That's a Labrador for you!

It was good to have him there because this is bear country. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

I have kept Booncat and Sassy separate from the herd as Sassy got used to being a mama, and because Sparkle and her sometimes get into kicking matches and I didn't want any injuries now that Sassy has been sold. So I brought Sparkle and Drifter out and put Sassy and Booncat in with Belle, Eli and Gussie. It worked out really well, as Sassy is finally chill enough that she doesn't get all worried if Booncat is out of her sight. At first she put the run on Eli as he checked out this new addition which he has only visited with over the fence so far. But today, he was allowed to approach.

There is 2 months difference in their age, hence the size difference- plus Eli is going to be a BIG boy.

And about Drifter- we kicked him into the mare herd so that he can learn herd manners, which was working perfectly, because Belle is already in foal to Beamer, and if we have a catch colt from him with Sparkle or Gussie it won't matter. We want Sparkle to get used to stallion behaviour so that she can get in foal, which up to this point she shuts down around stallions, as Janice found out to great expense over the last 3 years. So far, it is working: Drifter is mindful of the mares tolerance for him, and Sparkle, although she hasn't shown heat in the 2 months she has been here is at least tolerating Drifter's attention.

 I took the stall front off of the foaling stall so it's nice and open and they can both go in if the weather gets bad. They actually get along quite well- and Sparkle is the boss!

Riding day 46

Booncat

Sassy's baby is filling out and what a little character he is!  His registered name will be DLH Booncat Peppy, so I'm just calling him Booncat.
He is living up to his cutting breeding genetics, some of his moves are pretty fancy!
It's almost impossible to get good action shots of him- he is so quick! I do manage to get a few little videos though.

He is so pestiferous too!

That was a prelude to this:

Chomp the mama!
 Booncat just exudes sass- so I can see why his mama was named Sassy because I bet she was just like him when she was a baby!

Sassy, letting Drifter know that he is not. allowed. to. visit.

His cuteness makes up for his sass!

It's so entertaining watching him that it takes me extra long to do chores .
I had to pull hair for his dna test, so that meant haltering him. The first day was when he was 3 days old- my smallest rope halter, the one I used on Eli, was way too big for him. So the next day I found an old nylon halter and I have been using that.

The video makes his head look huge and his body small but it really isn't like that!
Sassy is still quite protective of her baby and I am quite reluctant to put  them in with the herd until Booncat is a little bigger. So I'll have to do some shifting around so they can get some room to move. Once he is leading a little bit I can put them in the mare pen while they are out on the grazing paddocks, so that should be fun to watch him exploring.

Can't wait to see what he looks like at 3 weeks old and is filled out a bit!

Getting it figured

I am so enjoying watching this colt figure things out! He is light on his feet, and has some spunk. He shows the cutting moves he was born to do, and a little of his daddy's reining moves- did a nice sliding stop today which of course was before I could whip the phone out for a video. 

But there is enough cuteness anyway! In fact he gets cuter by the minute!

The legs are all where they are supposed to be, no issues. 

Yesterday he was straining to pooh so I gave him and enema; a little later he was still straining so I gave him a second one. I use the Fleet enema for children, it's just the right size. This morning he is all normal and full of bouncy happies. Which I get so bemused watching him I forget to get photos for the blog!

Sassy is being a very good mama. She is watchful, very careful with her feet, and has no problem with me messing with her precious boy. 

Tonight I will leave the stall door open, as baby has learned to follow mama in and out of it. 

This colt looks the most like Beamer of all the ones he has sired. 

Delivery day D Day

As I settled in to my cozy bed in the barn around 9 pm, June 6.... I realized that there was no sense getting comfortable because I could see Sassy hunting for a spot- to foal. Sure enough, she lay down...

and it was time! 

The delivery was fairly quick, less than 10 minutes which is probably due to him- yes it's another colt- being so small. First time mamas tend to have small babies, I think Tumbleweed was an exception and I had to assist his mama. But this little fellow was born easily, and he and Sassy lay quietly for quite a while. He was looking for her though, so I managed to get him up beside her head so she could see, smell and lick him.

Because it was so wet out- we had just had a heavy downpour a couple of hours before he was born- the bedding pack was very soggy and I wanted him in the stall asap so I helped him find his feet and steered him into the foaling stall, with mama close behind.

Then it was all about making sure he nursed and pooped- but also making sure that mama was ok with this new little creature  Sassy was a little bit befuddled at first not sure what to make of him but as soon as he nursed those motherly genes kicked in and she fell in love with her baby.

. 

I had to halter her to make sure she stood still for him, which really helped and soon he was latched on and slurping happily away. 

A few hours later I left them for the night and this morning couldn't wait to head down to the barn to check on them.

Yup- all is well!

He is a rich bay colour at the moment and he is definitely a roan. Apparently Sassy does carry a copy of Agouti, and since I didn't include bay roan in my list of colours, the closest guess was Betsy who guessed blue roan colt for June 5th. Betsy can you shoot me an email at diamondlazyh641 at hotmail.com for your mailing address if you would like a Diamond Lazy H Quarter Horses ball cap!

So everyone- here he is- DLH Booncat Peppy!

He has his daddy's eyes and cute head 

Wordless Wednesday

Pasture turnout and 320

I am finally able to get the mares on turnout. We have limited pasture here so I am doing rotational turnout. Gussie and Sparkle get one shift, then Sassy and Mama Belle and Elijah.
Yesterday was baby's first time out and he took full advantage of it to show that he's got wheels!

He is such a smooth moving colt.

Those cute li'l grunts!  This was his first time out in the white electric tape, and I was a little worried that he would run into it, so I kept waiting to see him touch it first so that he would respect it.

All went well until it was time to bring them in. I took Sassy first and then came back for Belle and Eli.....
Belle was having none of it.

Round and around they went! Eventually she stopped and let me catch her. I really don't want her teaching Eli this behaviour so I may have to approach things differently when it's time to bring them in.

We will figure it out!

Meanwhile..... Sassy is at day 320, which is acknowledged to be the amount of gestation needed for a viable foal, so we are at countdown time!

She is quite large now.

I'm so excited for this foal! If you haven't got a guess in on the foaling contest, enter up! The current guesses can be seen on my sidebar. Colour choices can be seen on this post. Leave me a comment with your guess!

Contest #2

Sparkle is settling in well with the herd. Hasn't been any drama for a few days now (Gussie is sporting some missing hair on her hip from a scuffle a few days ago) and being the low girl on the totem pole, she got a job the other day.

Drifter turned a year old the other day. He is growing up... and up... and he is finally looking like a palomino. I put hotwire up at both ends of the alley between him and Beamer so he could get out and graze for a while every day.

I did end up having to halter him every time to get him through the gate, and he is really enjoying the grazing. Beamer greets him and then ignores him.

Sassy is getting large and is really slowing down, just kind of waddles around.

She is at 311 days today, and since I have a gut feeling she is going to foal early it's time to start the second foaling contest! Since this is her first foal, I have no history to go by. Foals are considered viable after 320 days, so she could foal any time after May 23rd. Technically her due date is June 15 which would be 343 days, but mares never go by the book! 

So get your best guess in: colt or filly, day, time and colour and I will start a chart on the sidebar. 

I have done a coat colour probability chart on her and I am going to assume that she is aa for Agouti (meaning she won't throw a foal with black points, as Beamer also doesn't carry Agouti).

Offspring Color Probability 

25.00% -	Blue Roan
25.00% -	Black
25.00% -	Red Roan
25.00% -	Red (Chestnut/Sorrel)

All together now

Once Mesa and Ice moved out, it was time to put the herd .... the much diminished herd! all together. Yesterday I put Sassy in the foaling pen, and put Mama Belle and Eli in with Gussie. First I showed Eli the fenceline before turning him loose.

Gussie was quite happy to be in with her bff again, and was politely interested in Eli.

She will make an excellent babysitter, but I did notice at feeding time this morning that she chased him away from the gate in no uncertain terms!

There was some synchronized rolling going on.

This morning I added Sassy into the mix, and there was zero drama. I figured it would be a smooth transition when I saw Belle and Sassy hanging together at their mutual fenceline.

All is well in their world! But- stay tuned, there will be a change coming soon!

Riding again

A couple more riding days- ponied Mesa - she was such a good girl!



She strides right out, no funny business. Gussie didn't like it when Mesa had to go right behind her on a narrow spot, but overall it was a really good ride.

Shayla saddled up Sassy, who hasn't  been ridden since October, and is due to foal in 4 months; she did great too!



The next day we took Rose and Gussie out for a ride, nothing too remarkable but we did get to do some long trotting in the snow, accompanied by the ever faithful and energetic Goose.

Although we don't have a lot of variety of places to go, as you can tell by my photos, we do have a lot of fun just getting out and enjoying the peaceful scenery. 

The other day all the horses were alerting to something in the bush, and as we rode through we spotted moose tracks. 

We took Drifter into the barn the other day, just playing around with him, and let him have a visit with Beamer, much to Beamer's delight. I should have videoed it, they had quite a conversation, and Drifter was enjoying it as much as Beamer. 

He's so cute! And such a good boy. 

Today is the day that Mesa will receive a visit from the young lady who is interested in her for a reining prospect. Stay tuned!

Riding day 12 & 13

El Nino means wet and mild

Weather has been a big deal lately. While it's mild and should be good riding, it's the footing that is holding me back.Too much ice! We had a lovely snowfall the other day, but during the night got heavy rain on top of it, and yup more ice. Wherever there are roads or paths it all turned to ice. Then today everything turned to slush as it warmed up... and we got heavy fog. All day.

Hopefully I will get some saddle time this weekend, really wanting to get Gussie out and I hope to pony Mesa a bunch over the next 2 months. 

So no riding stories, but I did get some soggy horse photos!

Drifter's eye, reflecting blue from the snow:

Big Red,. enjoying some time off.

Miss Mesa, always right beside me wanting to know what I am doing!

It's interesting looking at the fur on the different horses.

This is Sassy: 

She has dense short fur, looks wet but is dry next to the skin. Then there is Drifter.....

He has very long fur and it is only wet on the surface, he has an inch of dry hair! 

He is also one dirty little boy, loves to lay in the mud. I keep hoping we will get enough snow to clean him up a bunch!

He has a curly tail, and the wet muddy hair along his flanks is curly too! And then there is his mane....

Gorgeous curly mane! He is going to be really cute when he gets cleaned up and sheds out. I finally got his dna kit forms from AQHA, it took 5 weeks in the mail from Texas to here! I sent in for it at the end of September, they mailed it December 5th, and I got it January 10th.... no wonder nobody wants to use the postal service any more. I went across the line to mail the completed kit Priority post, so I hope we can get the results by the end of January. I wish AQHA would use Animal Genetics instead of U of C Davis- so much quicker. Mail it in and within a week you get an email back with the results!

I got Mesa's feet trimmed, and did the fronts on Mama Belle; her hinds are next and then Drifter. We are supposed to get a few days of sunshine so hopefully I can get in a ride or two. 

I'm counting down the days for mama Belle's foal! 2 and a half months or so to go!

I will run another foaling contest, this time I will have some Diamond Lazy H swag up for grabs. I finally got a local company to digitize my logo.  I will probably start taking guesses around March 8th, she will be at 320 days then. And that's only 9 weeks away! So excited for this foal!

The girls and a Kai update

Morning chores are entertaining lately. Mesa gets going, leaping and cavorting and then she gets the others fired up. This video is Sassy and Ice having a good gallop on a morning after we had a heavy rain.

Mama Belle is heavy in foal- 4 months to go!- but she gets in on the action too.

She sure has a lovely big trot- and she passes it on to her foals.

Speaking of her foals, I have a Kai update. They have been team roping on him, roping the head on him and the heels on Josie. Here is a video of them working together.

Kai is looking awesome!

That's Josie standing next to him, you can see how big he got.

Aren't they booty-ful  😍