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"

Au revoir

which translates as until we meet again.

Today was moving day for Tumbleweed and Rosalee.

Say goodbye to your buddies, T'weed....

Linda and family arrived right on time, we made sure all the paperwork was in order and then it was time....

The grandkids came with them, it was nice to see these girls again. 

A little visiting and going over some pointers... and it was time to load up.

Convince me....

I guess it passed inspection! Once she was in it was time to load T'weed. 

Yes T'weed, your mama is in there.

Well, all right then!

He took less time to load than his mama!  Off they went on their way to Washington state. They are within 3 hours of us and I do look forward to being able to visit, hence the title of this post. Rosalee will stay there for a few days until her new owner comes to pick her up, which gives T'weed time to settle in to his new surroundings. 

Photo courtesy of Linda

Pretty nice set up in their new home! If you want to follow his journey, go to Beautiful Mustang blog.

The herd looks pretty small with them gone! Now I have to find a new normal. Time to start working Mesa again.

Beamer's turn

Another nasty smokey day, but the river is so good for Gussie's leg that we went back there today. I invited Shayla to ride Beamer, much to her delight- and Beamer was so happy to get out again too!

The smoke is doing funny things to the light sensors on my little camera, a lot of the photos have this old-timey look to them.
I wasn't sure how Beamer would take to going in the river, he hasn't been really keen on water before, but then again, I had never had him in a river.

I needn't have worried! He really enjoyed it!

Tastes refreshing apparently, he drank several times.
Gussie stood motionless and let the water do it's magic on her leg. The swelling has gone down quite a bit, and even more so after today's session.

I think he should go for a swim! Take the saddle off and go for it! I didn't get it on video, but he did swim one stride and kind of tried to lunge forward to get his footing- rather like Gussie and Kit did.

Emptying her boots after the near-swim

On the way back we got to those horse -eatin' cement blocks. Gussie was very s'picious! I tried first to ride her through, giving her plenty of time and rewarding the slightest try, but it was pretty plain that she was not going to go. So, I led her through, and she went quite easily; led her back through and got on... and rode her through. Silly mare....

Tomorrow is a big day. His li'l self and his mama are heading south.

Definitely going to miss him! He has been a delight to have around. He and his mama are both nice easy going horses, and I'm sure will both be going to the best homes I could hope for. The cool part is that I get to keep in touch with both of them.

Riding day 60

3 month photo shoot

August 16th, and Tumbleweed is officially 3 months old. So for part of my 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months and 3 years (as being the best times to evaluate a horse) without further ado, I hope you enjoy his photos!

Rockin' the dun factor now! Check out the stripe on his back:

Love those markings!

He still has some shedding out to do but his beautiful colour is showing.

Love  the dark tips on his ears.

Such a friendly guy. 

I'm trying to get him to drink water after he eats his ration instead of heading straight to his mama for a slurp of milk, but he is still a mama's boy.

Beamer sez: Hey! He is lots like me too! Handsome! And fun! 

Another first (or two)

Yesterday was vet day. Both Tumbleweed and Rosalee had to get trailered to the vet for their international papers and coggins test. I thought it would be a good idea to close the divider on Rosalee and then load T'weed, so I tried that- he hopped right in the trailer but then was trying to nurse under the divider, and I felt that could be a wreck, so I unloaded him while Shayla opened and secured the divider, then loaded him again- he loaded perfectly. It is a fairly short haul to the vet's, perfect for his first trailer ride.

The vet was impressed with how well behaved he is. While she was doing her exam on him, from across the parking lot we saw a little boy and his parents making a beeline for us- horses are like a magnet to kids! They wanted to pet the baby, but I said no and let them pet Rosalee instead. The little boy (maybe 2 yrs. old or under) was a bit intimidated by her larger size, so dad picked him up to pet her on the neck. He noticed the flies on her and I showed him to brush the flies away; then when dad put him down he noticed the flies on her belly and wanted to go under her to brush them off too! Eek! Then he ran back to his mom exclaiming all the way, "mama, mama, mama, mama". He was pretty excited about his first encounter with a horse! Also, a lady driving by saw the horses and comes driving right up to us and jumps out to see the horses.... her fancy car was parked a bit too close for comfort.... but she enjoyed seeing the horses too. I love how happy horses make people!

He was good for the vet too. I did take a video of him getting his first needle, but I have to free up space on my computer to be able to download it from my phone. I have it on my Facebook though. Here is the first video that did download.

He was a good boy while his mama got her exam too.
So- the paperwork is all done, and as soon as it gets back they will be heading south across the border- but not completely out of our lives! I am actually excited that T'weed is going to Linda and that we will get to see him grow up, both on her blog and in person. And it's pretty cool that Rosalee won't be far away either.
T'weed is making progress in another way too. I lead him and Mesa together into the barn in the evening for their ration, much the same way that I led Pistol and Mesa last year. He is getting quite comfortable with standing tied while he eats, and since Mesa gets twice as much as him she isn't trying to steal his food.

Notice the lead rope draped over his bum, ready for me to grab if needed; he is standing tied but I like to be ready to release him if need be. I no longer have to stay between them to keep the peace! Good kidz.

One more visit

Linda and her husband came up for one more visit with Tumbleweed. I had a couple of surprises that I waited to tell/show her !
First, T'weed is well into his shed of the baby coat, and now we can really see his dun factor showing in the stripes on his legs.

He is going to be one flashy dude when he is all shed out!
He has grown a bunch too. He's easy to catch, not perfect at leading away from the herd (butt rope time) but once he is out he's pretty good. I have been leading him in and out of the barn and feeding him in there, so I thought it was time to move on to the next step- that was surprise #2.

I had taught him to load in the trailer the day before she arrived. He loaded again for her, she had to use the butt rope after giving him the chance to load without it at first, and it only took a minute or so and in he went. Good boy Tumbleweed!
I love seeing the happiness this colt gives her.

That smile says it all!

So there is more good news- Rosalee and Tumbleweed will be travelling together to Linda's place, where mama and baby will have another month together before Rosalee's owner comes to pick her up. This means that as soon as we get the international papers done, they will be leaving us, so in less than 2 weeks. The bonus for that is that T'weed will have a less stressful weaning as mama will be with him for over a month in the new and different place. So happy with the way things worked out!

T'weed update

Tumbleweed is two months old now. Time to start a few more training things on him. I took him in the barn with Mesa the other day but he was quite upset and wanted his mama! So next time I brought mama in with him- that worked much better. I did tie him with a slip knot, and held the end to do a quick release if necessary  but it was not.

Rosalee was happy to munch on the alfalfa hay in the manger while he ate his ration. The people interested in her cancelled yet again so she is still up for sale.
On the way out, I let him visit with papa.

Beamer can get loud!

We went on another trail ride today, but I'll save that for tomorrow's post.

Water Baby

It's been a while since I had Tumbleweed out, I have been kind of busy so he got put on the back burner this last week.
But- we made up for that today. Linda and some of her relatives came to visit him ( and thanks Linda, that huckleberry scone was delicious!)
The mares didn't make it easy to catch him, they kept herding him down the fence.

But persistence paid off! and

he decided that he liked all the attention being on just him.
 I caught Rosalee and we went for a walk down to the pond, his first time out that far, but with mama there he was quite willing.
Rosalee was happy to wade right in and munch on those juicy swamp grasses.

T'weed was a little more cautious.

but discovered that yummy grass too. Mama's willingness to go in the water helped him to be brave enough to try something new- getting his feet wet!

We spent quite a while there, letting him just enjoy the new experience. 

Look at that hip! The black spot is where he rubbed the hair off, not sure on what. The hair is growing back and it will be fun to see what the colour looks like.

Sure was a beautiful day to be playing in the water!

After that there was some hand grazing to do, very important! Then before putting him back in the herd, he got some very relaxing brushing, which he thoroughly enjoyed!

The next couple of weeks will see more new experiences for him, as we want to load  him with his mama to haul to a local arena (about a 3 minute drive) so mama can go back in training, as she is still for sale.

New stuff for Tumbleweed

His little cuteness is getting easy to catch and lead now, and is finding his independence from mama.
I thought I'd take a couple of videos just for fun.

This first one is walking up to him, bringing him out of the pen to eat his ration.

This one is where I decided to take him for his first solo walk away from the other horses. He wrapped around me a lot, but I just went with him. He did really well! But when I put him back in the pen he got in a hurry and you will see how that turned out.

I like that he doesn't panic when things go south. He does quite well, doesn't lose his mind.

He's a fun little fellow to work with. 😤

Pasture mates

Today was a non riding day. But not a non horse day!
I had a dentist appointment this morning and it kinda knocked the energy out of me so I wasted the early afternoon having a nap... there went my riding time!
I turned out Belle and Gussie into the adjoining pasture, and brought Sassy out; normally she is just turned out with Mesa but today I left Rosalee and Tumbleweed in with them. I noticed yesterday when I was riding Rosalee that she seemed comfortable hanging around the fenceline of Sassy's pen; no ear pinning or stink eye going on. So since I want to be able to have all the mares together soon, I opted to do Rosalee today instead of Gussie. It went fairly well.

First on a leadline to assess Rosalee's attitude, and then I turned her loose. Pretty quiet at first, but there were about 4 times when she charged Sassy, who was quick to get the heck outa there! Then they settled down and got along, from a distance.

Any time Tumbleweed got too close to Sassy, Rosalee went into protect mode, but by the time I came down to put Sassy back in her pen for the night all was quiet.
She did get really buddied up with Mesa today, I guess it's comforting to have a friend.

I brought T'weed out for his munchies, he is getting quite confidant about leaving the pen, especially since he gets a little hand grazing too.

Everything is progressing nicely!

Riding with li'l pests

Finally I'm getting time in the saddle again. I rode Gussie the other day, and after the previous ride where she was sure she didn't want to go in the bush, this time- no problem. We waded through the pond and down one of the trails- only to find ourselves swarmed by mosquitoes! ( Li'l pests version 1) That kind of made it unpleasant enough for both of us that I didn't prolong the ride. We did the pond again on the way back.... just because it's fun!

The lady who came up from the coast decided not to buy Rosalee, she was looking for more perfect conformation. No problem, there are very few perfect horses and I'm sure she will find one she likes better. There is another lady coming on Saturday to try her out, so I have been trying to ride her every day. A certain li'l somebody is having to deal with it!

He goes in for a slurp when I stop for a few minutes.

I stepped it up a bit today and rode with T'weed and Mesa loose in the pen. (Li'l pests version 2)

They got a little silly a couple of times! I was pretty happy with how Rosalee handled their antics. She basically ignored them. She is soooo out of shape! So regular riding will really help and by weaning time she should be able to go on and work for whoever ends up with her. Sometime in July I'd like to take her and T'weed to the little local arena to give her a better workout. Maybe I'll even teach him to pony.

Come for a spin or two with me!

I take Rosalee out of the pen by herself to saddle up.

Crappy photo but it shows how unconcerned both of them were about being separated. 

T'weed is starting to shed now, his ears and face and legs are showing some of the colour under that baby fuzz.

That's not dirt on his knee, it's a kind of sooty black; that's the colour his stockings will be.

Buckskin showing on his face.

And those ears! Neat colour and it will look even better when all that whitish hair sheds off.

Riding day 32, 33, and 34