End of summer and 1st day of Autumn

And it was a lovely day for a trail ride. 

Gussie, apparently, didn't think so. It took me 15 minutes to load her. Lately, she has become herd bound which only manifests when it's time to load her in the trailer. She knows how to load. She always loads perfectly after the ride and it's time to go home! Looks like I will have to work on that, and load and unload her a bunch so that loading isn't always about leaving the farm. Silly mare. 

This ride was out at the airport trails, my 3rd ride out there in the last few weeks. This time we rode to the top of the ridge (west side) overlooking the Kootenay River valley. The smoke has cleared, but on the USA side of the border they are burning off the stubble fields so there was still some smoke in the air.(we are so close to the border here.)

My friend's horse is a champagne coloured Tennessee Walking horse mare. Gussie had to hustle to keep up to her.

We wound our way through the forest, some old growth huge trees and some new growth, and then there was this gnarly birch tree. It looked like the fungus growing on it were stepping stones on a climbing wall.

Of course once we got out of the trees and headed back to the farm, the view was just as spectacular on the east side of the ridge.

The last day of summer was a good one too- I ponied Moondance again, this time we went all the way to the swimming hole. He is getting this ponying thing figured out! 

That is, until we came to his very first steep little hill. We're talking a drop of about 3 ft. that takes Gussie one stride to go down. He was like uh-uh no way I can go down there! So I found another way to go. But we had to drop down off the dyke to get to the river- this time, he had to come. So I dallied up and put Gussie in gear and the little guy had no choice. Once again, it was not a big hill, a gentle one but he just isn't used to anything but the smooth ground of his pens. 

He was not sure about the river when he first saw it! This is where it's invaluable to have a good calm quiet horse for company to instill confidence in the youngster. 

He also was NOT going in the river! So once again, I dallied up and he had to follow Gussie into the water. Once he was in he was quite intrigued. I think next time he will follow along without any fuss.

When we got back, Moondance got to chill out at the trailer with Gussie, standing tied like an ole broke horse.

The flies are quite pesky at this time of year!

Riding day 38 & 39

Come along, Moondance.

At last, the smoke cleared and cooler weather has arrived. We were blanketed in heavy smoke for just over a week- I can't imagine how awful it is where the fires actually are. So horrendous, and my heart goes out to all affected- loss of homes, pets, livestock not to mention the people who have lost their lives. It seems like this year has been hell on earth. 

We do the best we can to keep our minds off the disaster that this year has been, and for me, that means focusing on my horses. 

It's Moondance training time.

I took him to the round pen a couple of days ago; just a different place for him to get used to, and while he explored I picked a few rocks, then decided to do a little sacking out with my longe whip. 

He is so laid back! I love working with him.

Today I saddled Gussie, and took Moondance for his first time ponying out of the paddocks. 

Mama Belle wasn't too happy about it, she called to him a few times but Moondance was so interested in his surroundings that he didn't even really notice. I think his weaning is going really well.

I hope to get a trail ride in this week, as well as ponying Moondance. He sure enjoyed his outing, and I am sure happy about how easy he is to pony. Those few lessons in the pen really paid off. 

Riding day 37

Weaning time

My plan for weaning is usually the same every year: Remove Belle from the herd, put her in the adjacent foaling pen, and leave the foal in the herd. So that's what I did on Thursday.  It just seemed like the right day to wean and I always try to follow my instincts. 

First day went well, Moondance was not too worried as he could still hang out next to mama and had his bff Gussie  and Jayne to keep him company. 

The next day however, I caught him trying to nurse off Gussie. At first she would squeal and stomp her foot, but then she allowed him. And she was following him around nickering if he got out of her sight. And I'm pretty sure her teats were getting sore from him pulling on them!

Since  I was worried that Gussie would come into milk, which would not be good and would totally defeat the purpose of weaning, I had to switch it so Belle was in the herd and Moondance is isolated. 

I gave him a pile of hay near where the mares come up for water and he can see into their shelter from there, but most of his feed is in the foaling shelter behind him.

He is adjusting. He loves it when I come and hang out with him. As soon as the smoke clears I will take him out and pony him from Gussie. 

What smoke, you ask? 

All this blanket of smoke is from the fires to the south of us in the USA From California all the way up to Washington State. It is heavy upon the land and will be hanging around for a few days as all the winds are from the southwest. So no riding until it abates. 

Speaking of ponying, our last lesson went quite well.

Just a note on Moondance's colour- he is what is known as a sun faded black. I rather like it although I do like the non fading black that Beamer is. Moondance doesn't carry any colour modifiers like the cream gene which his brothers Eli, Kai and Rio have, he is a true black carrying only 2 copies of black. He is the same colour as Nitro. He also has a lot of white hairs scattered throughout his body and especially on his face, which his brothers also have, with the exception of, I believe, Kai. Stella had that too. I think it comes from Beamer's mama who was a black rabicano.

Riding  day 36

Fit

I have a new riding companion and she invited me to go out on the airport trails, which are trails for equestrians only. (But wildlife didn't get the memo!) We didn't see any wildlife but bears and cougar are known to frequent the area so talking and hollering occasionally ensures that they know we are there and they avoid contact. Most of the trails wind through the forest with occasional steep hills. There is a place where you can ride to the top and have a view of the Kootenay River valley but that will be the next ride. 

The other horse is a 23 year old Tennessee Walker, very nice mare. She also has another TW that is a champagne, a rather rare colour. 

Gussie is not very fit, due to me not riding much this year. I always give mares time off after breeding to make sure the foal settles, and then it was stupid hot most of the summer, so we are just hitting the trails now. 

We climbed one hill and the saddle did slide back a bit so I reset it at the top of the hill. 

We rode for about 2 hours, and this is the view from next to the farm my friend owns. 

Gussie had her feet trimmed a couple of days ago, so I rode in one of her new pairs of boots, the red ones, and they did fit a bit looser than I liked. I will try the Treks next ride as I think I can get them just a bit tighter. I'll save the red ones for when her feet have grown out a bit.

Now that Gussie has gotten fluffy gained weight the Wade saddle fits her better. I have purchased a couple of saddle pads recently; a 1 inch thick 5 Star and a thinner Weaver pad with a merino fleece bottom, which I used on this ride. Judging by the sweat marks it seems to be a good combination. 

Yes Gussie is standing with her butt on a hill

Meanwhile, back home....

Look who is fitting in! Jayne is now in with the in crowd 😎 Such a humble and quiet mare, I just love her. 

Riding day 35

Moondance time

With Drifter gone now my focus turns to working with Moondance. He is getting introduced to new things now that he has the basics of standing tied, trailer loading , feet handling etc. down pat.
Next on his curriculum is ponying , sacking out, and working on obstacles.

My jacket worked for a starting point

as well as my hat.

I have also been taking him into the barn to eat his ration. His mama doesn't like that she can't see him when I do that. But it's good for the little guy.  He gets to stand tied there, but I don't leave him alone for safety's sake.

Thumper had to come and visit

Beamer has been getting some turnout time in Drifter's old pen (aka the foaling pen) and he is super happy about being right across the fence from his herd. Moondance likes to visit with his daddy, but mama Belle is quick to come and herd him away. But Moondance still comes back and hangs out with papa. Beamer has always enjoyed being across the fence from his babies and visiting with them. 

He did a lot of sniffing the smells Drifter left behind too.

I have a couple of more rides in on Gussie, one at the airport trails and now I am starting to use her for ponying Moondance. Yesterday he took a while to agree to follow Gussie and me, but he did work it  out. 

So that will be my program for the next while; sacking out and ponying, and once he is weaned I will add in obstacles. Let the fun begin! I think I will wean him on the 14th. That means I will put Belle in the foaling pen and leave Moondance in with Gussie and Jayne. Beamer will have to give up his turnout pen for about a month, poor boy. 

Riding day 33 &34

And now... the news

Brought to you by Diamond Lazy H Quarter Horses.

As most of you know we have had Drifter up for sale for about 3 months now.

You talkin' 'bout me?

Yes Drifter, I am

For the longest time, we only had tire kickers or people who were from the US and couldn't get the funds for commercial transport to get him across the border. I was about to give up. I had an ad on Northern Horse .com and I got a notification that the ad was about to expire on Sept. 4th and did I want to renew it for 15 bucks. Well yes, I did. 

Within 24 hours I had 3 people who wanted to buy him and 2 of them wanted to put a non refundable deposit on him right away. The one that did the quickest (by about 5 minutes) decided to buy him sight unseen. 

This is the photo I used as the focal photo for the ad. You better believe that photos are important! 

There is a really neat story to the sale. We are Diamond Lazy H Quarter Horses- he is going to Diamond H Quarter Horses. We bought him from Weir Quarter Horses, he is sold to people by the last name of Weir (no relation). There are a few other connections too, so it's just special that he is going to these folks. 

If you want to check out his new home, here is their Facebook link.  

https://www.facebook.com/HHAQHA/ 

He is en route as I write and I look forward to getting an update from them once he arrives. 

I will miss seeing that pretty yellow boy! But I sure am excited for his new adventures. He will have cattle to work, lots of miles to cover on their ranch, and little kids to love up on him. He's going to be a replacement stallion for them. He will be doing what he was bred to do.

One last look....

Moondance makes progress

Remember this post where I outlined all the things I wanted Moondance to learn? I am happy to say that he has accomplished all of those things and then some. He is so much fun to work with, he's not overly reactive; pretty much trusts me and accepts new stuff readily. Case in point is fly spray. When he stands tied at the trailer to eat his ration, the flies pester him and he stomps at them a lot. So I have been spraying him  so he can eat in peace.

Weaning time is coming up soon. He will be 4 months old on September the 6th, so any time after that, depending on the weather- I don't wean when it's super hot out; hopefully we will be cooled off by then.

I love his curiosity and bravery.  He likes to check things out and not much scares him. But I can't leave him alone with the muck bucket or wheelbarrow!

I spent this morning cleaning up the barn aisle , while Ted did weed whacking around the barn, fencelines and alleyway.

Stay tuned for some news!

The boys

This colt.... he is entertaining!

He has a "thing" about the wheelbarrow. Apparently it needs to be destroyed, chased, bitten and dragged!

Even with a mouthful of hay!

He is doing well on the standing tied lesson; Thumper put it to the test 

He's pretty good about not pulling back so far. 

He eats a bit, then looks around at everything. After he was done eating today , I took him to the barn to see if he would come in.

Yes I know the barn isle is cluttered; cleaning and organizing project coming up!

His orange halter is getting too small for him so I grabbed the blue one and put it on him. Then took him out for a visit with his daddy.

Blue is Beamer's colour and it looks good on Moondance too.

Someone asked for Drifter feet photos, but since he was ready for a trim I figured I'd wait until the trimmer did him before taking photos. His feet are rock hard in this dry weather, so I took him to the pond- what's left of it- to soften them up a bit.

She was really pleased with him; he was well behaved for the most part, only pulled a foot away once  and stood quietly. I love it when my farrier says good things about my horses! I guess I can't call her a farrier though, she only does barefoot trims so she is my hoof care lady. She just moved here from Quebec and her husband is an equine dentist. So happy that we now have those services here in the valley! 

What you do on a hot day

Invite friends to come over for a swim!
 On horseback, that is.

Both of the guest horses are part of the local Therapeutic Riding program. The dog belongs to the lady on the bay horse.

The palomino, Allie,  was worried about the rocks on the river bottom. She isn't the most agile horse! But she figured it out with a little encouragement from the other horses.

I love this bay mare, Kit! She was indifferent at first, but once she realized how refreshing it was she quite enjoyed herself.

We had one person stay on the bank while 2 went in the water- someone had to hold all the cell phones! And take pictures!

Gussie really enjoyed herself! Me too! The water was the perfect temperature. I find that you really have to pay attention to keep your legs forward when riding bareback in the water as the force of movement makes your legs drift back to the horse's flanks. Important to remember as the horse gets into the shallower water and you need to regain your balance.

Swimming! I just grab a handful of mane to keep my butt in place as I also tend to slide back.

I stop her when she gets her footing back so I can adjust my seat.
I'm not much of a swimmer- I can, but it's not my strong suit, so this is for me the best swimming ever!

Meanwhile, Moondance makes progress. He is moving on to the next phase, standing tied. I no longer feed him in the trailer, because he has that all figured out; now his tub is at the hitching rail and the lead is triple wrapped around it. The bonus of halter breaking at a very early age like I do- they long ago learn to give to  pressure, so standing tied comes much easier.

If something bothers him and he tries to leave, there is enough resistance- with give- in that triple wrap to keep him from leaving and it gives me time to grab the rope if needed.

It was put to the test with a little help from Thumper.

Such a brave colt, and not overly reactive. So far, he is winning me over!

Riding day 32

New boots and Drifter photos

Who doesn't love a new set of boots!

The used boots I ordered for Gussie look like they were barely used at all, and they fit her perfectly. Same basic construction as the Cavallo Treks but a different closure system. We are all set now, just need it to cool off some more as it's supposed to be stupid hot (in other words, typical August weather) for the next week.
We are getting lots of interest in Drifter, so I did a photo shoot of him in turnout the other day.  The best ones I put on Facebook, but here are a few of the outtakes.

Airborne

Oh look! Mares!  (also airborne)

Boyz just gotta have fun

Rodeo time! (This was at full gallop)

How do they not bang their feet at this point in the stride? And when you are riding, can you pinpoint the feel and what the next part of the stride feels like? 

He had to stop and check out all the smells that the girls left behind

Mostly though he was just his beautiful self.

He had just got a bath

He really carries himself well

I hope he becomes somebody's dream horse soon

Booted up

I have had a couple of rides in to get Gussie used to wearing her boots. The first day I took to some rocky trails through the bush, and up onto the paved road.

She kept to her old habit of looking for the softest footing for most of this ride. Her back feet don't have boots, just her fronts.

It was a lovely day - not too hot and not many bugs. I couldn't get her to put her ears forward for this photo!
At the end of that ride I checked the boots and her feet; there was only a little bit of debris in the boots and a little bit of displaced hair on her heel bulbs. I may not have had the boots adjusted properly, so the next ride, I made sure they were snugged up better.
On the next ride we did the water test. These boots have a toe flap that you push tightly against the front of the hoof, then two side flaps that velcro to the velcro on the toe flap, and then another velcro strap that snugs down on top of all that- I wasn't worried that they would come off in the water like the easyboot did.

Rode through the pond, which is pretty low right now, with no problem and then up a little hill onto the dyke. The boots were no problem on the hill, which is loose gravel.

Then some trotting on the trail- I was always worried that the boots would interfere with her hoof placement and she would be klutzy but I needn't have worried. We got to the swimming hole which was blessedly deserted as this was late afternoon, so we both just soaked up the peaceful sounds of nature's version of silence.

The boots seem to be working just fine! Gussie seems to be comfortable in them, they stay put- I haven't tried mud yet- and they are easy to put on and take off, unlike the easyboots I had. The water seemed to drain out well because of the front construction with the toe flap.
I bought a second set from a used hoof boot page on Facebook, they aren't the Treks, just the standard Cavallos so I will be testing them out too, they should be here in a couple of days. Sporty red ones! If they work well, I could use them on her hind feet if I had a really rocky area to ride but mostly hind feet don't need boots as 3/4 of the weight of a horse is carried on their front end. It will be nice to have a spare set though.

Bevelled on the front for proper breakover

Riding day 30, 31

Moondance at 3 months

As always, I do a 3 month photo shoot of foals. Moondance does not disappoint!  He is not only gorgeous, he is a sweet natured colt. He follows me around, is curious, and willing. He has kinda stolen my heart!

He managed to bang his head on something just between and below his eyes, it was a cut and a bump. The cut is healing but the bump may take a while to go down and may never disappear entirely. It does mar his good looks a bit when viewed from the right side.

His legs are perfect. The white socks are starting to stand out, although there is still some of his golden baby hair to shed out on his legs.

He has a certain elegance about him that both Rio and Stella had.

He has that special "look" to him.

He's one flashy little dude.

Well balanced, good muscling..

and his mama loves him. (I do too!)