Some update photos

 Kai and Josie have been earning their keep team roping. 

Josie (Chickory x Beamer) on the heels, Kai (Belle x Beamer) on the head side

Rio and Derby (full brothers to Kai) had a job working on a ranch this year. I was sent these photos of Rio at work.

I don't have photos of Derby. Pistol, who is also a Belle son, has been competing in roping too. 

Pistol (Belle x Rollin in My Dually)

All the above horses are in the same home and they couldn't have landed in a better home. They also bought Minx, who is a daughter of Sparkle N Peppy, the first one of the Beamer / Belle cross. Minx's sire was grey, and she is slowly going grey. 

Minx

And last but not least I have a photo of Gussie's daughter, who I called Pie. She was born on the farm here 2  years ago and is a daughter of Shayla's late stallion, Givemathrashing.

Pie is also in a very good home. I guess that's all one can ask for as a breeder, that the foals go to homes that value them, provide good care, and use them. 

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!

A few updates

While Moondance was still growing in his mama's belly, I had this feeling that he was special, And I was right! He is absolutely adorable, friendly, easy to work with, curious and so very handsome. I got his dna results back and he is 5 panel negative (perfect!!) and is a true black like his daddy, and homozygous for black, which means that if he was a breeding  stallion he could not throw a red based foal. Beamer isn't - remember Josie, she is a sorrel.

It will be so fun watching him shed out! Those diagonal socks and blaze will sure make him eye catching.

Don't be chewing your mama's tail!

Drifter got the job done with Gussie, he covered her twice and was very easy to handle- once he figured out what part of the mare he was supposed to mount! Gussie was quite patient with him, just a few squeals when he didn't get it right. So assuming she caught, she will be due right around the same time as Belle.

The horse shelter nears completion, we pick up the tin for the roof tomorrow and Saturday will go hard and get the roof done and the last wall nailed up. So happy to be able to move the mares in together Saturday evening!

The folks who have all the Beamer kidz posted some photos on Facebook- check out the boyz and Josie!

Nearest the road is Rio, then Nitro, Kai and Josie and another unidentified horse.

So nice to see them all out together! And check out this photo- Big Butt Belle sure does stamp her foals! 

Nitro, Kai, Rio and Josie

Beamer's boys

Here is another birthday boy:

Midnight Tumbleweed turned 2 yesterday- isn't he beautiful! A beautiful lady and her beautiful horse- doesn't get any better than that. You can visit her blog to follow his journey and Linda's excellent writing. 

And here is DLH Elijah Peppy, who will be 1 on the 19th:

I do love those smoky blacks, and it won't break my heart if Moondance is a smoky black instead of a true black like his daddy.

I guess I shouldn't complain so much about Beamer throwing so many colts when they look like this!

Just to refresh your memory- here are the other boys, who are living in Alberta:

Diamond Rio Peppy, at 3 years old (Rio)

Midnight Coyote (Kai)

Shining Midnite Moon (Nitro)

Beamer is also the sire of 2 paint colts, full brothers. I only have their baby photos; they are full grown now.

"Cowboy"

"Tuff"

Kai Update

Yup that's Kai on the head rope, he is a full fledged rope horse now!
This is what his owner says:

He loves his job. He always loved charging into his lope... now that's his job. That boy is a power house and FAST!!!

Pretty proud of my Beamer babies and especially the ones from mama Belle, they have all proven themselves as ranch and rope horses as well as Rio's career at showing and barrels. I am so excited for Belle's foal this year! Her due date is March 31st. (I always call day 343 of pregnancy the due date). My plan is if it's a filly to keep her and if it's a colt it will be sold.

I'm hanging on to Mesa until Belle foals out, just in case she has a colt, then I will still have my Beamer daughter. I trimmed her feet yesterday and she was so good. She will be going back into training soon.

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  😍

Update on the update

Here is the branding that Kai was working. In the group photo he is the horse on the right:

https://www.highriveronline.com/sun-country-blog/that-s-a-wrap-branding-2018-is-in-the-books

And here is further info on the Beamer kids  this hard working family owns:

"Nitro was right along side Kai. He is a finished head horse and heel horse. Kevin won the senior pro rodeo on him this past weekend. Rio is still learning the ropes when it comes to bring a barrel horse. Rorie breezed him tonight and let him find his own speed. It's coming . Josie is going to high school rodeo this weekend in High River. She is going to learn to be a goat horse. Still learning not to cut in front of Rorie. But is a nice steady girl and keeps Rorie safe they are all doing great!!!"

I am pretty happy that Beamer's babies are earning their keep and proving that they can handle it. Exactly what I wanted out of my breeding program.

As for Rosalee... she is still withholding her hostage!

So that means that those of you who have a guess that is before this day, can guess again! Linda, Emma, and Betsy in Wi, if you would like to put in a new guess just leave a comment on this post.

The spring runoff is building and is sure causing a lot of problems all over the place. We are ok so far in this neighbourhood. The pond level is really high and there is now groundwater in the mare pen and in the hot wire pasture that is between the mare pen and the pond.

Everything this side of the green grass is in the mare pen.

 I took the dogs down for a swim a couple of days ago when we had a fairly hot day and discovered that Tay will actually retrieve a stick! However she doesn't bring it all the way back so I have to send Tess out to fetch it and bring it to the shore.

They were a couple of happy dogs!

Updates- Kai, Rosalee, Gussie

Just got this in on Facebook: Kai got to drag calves at a branding. I will try to get the video. He did great!

Gotta love those Beamer babies! This is Kai, the full brother to Rio and Nitro. They are all 3 proving to be handy, versatile and dependable horses. Exactly what I wanted in my breeding program.
Beamer is going to be 17 in July, so there won't be a whole lot more of his babies on the ground unless I get in some outside mares.
Rosalee is getting close, she now has colostrum, but is a few days away from foaling I think- but she could surprise me yet! Foal watch continues.

Baby has dropped some. This is a photo from 3 days ago:

and today when I looked at her from behind, could hardly see her belly.

Got in a couple more schooling rides on Gussie. She is improving with every ride. I am getting better circles, she is staying in frame longer, and not diving with her front end quite as much. I think she could use another body work session as she gets accustomed to using all those body parts that were out of shape.

I see a big improvement in her neck, the muscles in front of her withers have filled out and strengthened. I am really enjoying riding her too, and we are both happy at the end of the ride. I took her to the pond and let her play a bit after our last ride. It's getting too deep to cross now without getting the saddle all wet.

Riding day 25 & 26

Josie and th' boys

Look what Nitro is doing now ......

He is doing well as a heeling horse, gets ridden a lot on the ranch too.....

That's Nitro in the middle and Josie on the right. Josie is learning to be a heel horse too. 

And then there's Rio....

He is in training to be a barrel horse and is doing well. He placed 3rd in the 3 D in this show.

I don't have anything new on Kai yet, just this quick video of him playing with a bag that was on the stall of one of their new horses.

So all these Beamer kids are doing what they are bred to do- be a good horse to ride. 

Beamer's "kidz"

We had a great weekend away... where to begin! Let's make this post about the horses. I took the mare back to Alberta- she lives with the Beamer kidz. As I drove up their driveway, I spotted one of the girls working a horse in their arena... I had to look hard because I really thought it was Rio- but it didn't have the white socks and I thought, that's way too big to be Kai! But it was! Dang has he grown and filled out!!!! I just had to measure all the boys; Kai and Nitro both stand right at 62 inches, so 15.2hh, and Rio is a good solid 15.3 and a half. Wow! And I say Wow! because Beamer is just over 14.2hh and their mama is 14.3hh.

Terrible photo of Kai, but you can see how much he has filled out. He is a big soggy boy now!

And just look at Nitro! What a handsome boy! I think Alberta agrees with them!

They brought Rio and Josie in for me to see too. I didn't get a photo of Rio and once again, a crappy photo- tough to take them at close quarters in a stall- but look how miss Josie has filled out.

Josie got to be ridden down the road to their neighbours for a lesson, her first ride out.

Photo credit to Alana!

For those of you who didn't get to see a photo of the paint mare's Beamer baby from last year- here he is. His name is Cowboy (Pep's Midnight Cowboy)

Photo taken by his owner. He is one year old now.

Doing what's right

I have some news to share.....

I'm sure you all remember the 3 brothers. From left to right: Nitro, Rio, and Kai

It's a family affair! Dad, daughter and mom all riding them. This photo warms my heart!

They were looking for a project horse for their daughter, and guess who will be joining them.

Yes, miss Josie is heading to Alberta next weekend. I'm going to miss her.

I called this post " Doing what's right " for a couple of reasons:  because my breeding program is working, if I can raise good minded family horses that generate repeat buyers; and because this is the right move for Josie. Much as I love her, she needs to be shown. I am not that person who could take her talent to the level it needs to go- this is a super athletic filly who is going to someone who will let her shine. I'm just glad that I got that one ride on her. Don't worry, I'll be keeping in touch with her- and all th'boys!