Going, going....

Summer is winding down, the horses are shedding their summer coat, the nights are noticeably cooler although the days are still hot and muggy. 

Rio is frisky in the cool morning air

The neighbours are baling their second cut and there have been a lot of birds looking for dinner in the swaths, like this Ferruginous Hawk.

The calves over the fence from the horses are all fat and sassy, thriving on the lush moist pasture here; unlike the drought stricken areas in the US we have had a wonderful summer- I guess those high waters in June have kept the ground water high, because it's a bumper crop for hay here this year.

I advertised Nitro on Facebook, and had great response; the first people who looked at  him loved him but weren't set up for keeping a weanling, so they passed on him, but on Monday a local girl is coming to see him. She was here earlier this year to look at  Beamer for breeding their mare, and is interested in Nitro as a barrel prospect- just the kind of home I envisioned for him. And local too, so I'll get to see him -yay! I'll know for sure on Monday.

Going... going... and almost gone

Wordless Wednesday

The boys

Rio and Nitro are getting along like.....well like brothers. Mostly they hang out together and do things  in unison, but sometimes Nitro gets too pesky and Rio reminds him that he's the little brother.

Speaking of Rio, I can't wait until I get this view from the saddle:

Oh yeah.

He's such a nice mix of Beamer and Coyote Belle. Beamer's profile, but a couple of times lately I thought I was looking at his mama only to realize it was Rio.

I've put Nitro on a Facebook page for sale and I'm getting a lot of interest, so I'm hoping that he sells soon.

I've started the boys on some oats; as you can see the stress of weaning has dropped some weight on Nitro. Other than that he has settled in to his new routine quite well, so I thought I''d start trimming his feet. The first day he was having none of it and having hissy fits, the next day I  did two sessions, in the morning just getting him to give me his feet without slamming  them down- took about an hour, I'm only  working with the fronts right now. In the evening, I managed to get the nippers in there and take off his excess toe. Today, he let me use the rasp, only short sessions, but I'm trying to keep him quiet, after his day one blow out. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to do a little more, and then start on his back feet. I've got some other  new experiences lined up for him too, like trailer loading and going for walks.
And... it's time to start the ground work on Rio.

Beamer

I know a lot of people think that stallions are best as geldings, but if that were true, there wouldn't be many horses in the world, would there? Years ago when I was looking for a herd sire- back in the days when I was working full time and could afford to dream big- I had certain criteria: pedigree and confirmation of course, but also eye appeal and disposition. A certain 3 month old colt caught my eye when I was visiting friends in Eureka Montana.

I'd been keeping an eye on their foal crop over the years and knew they raised good athletic well bred horses. He was the cutest li'l rascal! Even if he did look a little scruffy. I knew his sire, and saw his dam, so I spoke for him, and picked him up in February of his 2 year old year.
He's still catching my eye, and as far as disposition goes he can't be beat. Many children- and adults- have had their first ever ride on him. He's easy to handle, even in breeding season; in fact the only time he was ever a pain in the a** was in 2010 on our blogger ride in the mountains, he was in love with  Crystal's mare who was in heat and he had a hard time focusing on me- but we dealt with it. He's my favorite horse to just get on and go for a leisurely putt, or go check the cows on, although he isn't a rope horse. He's 11 years old now.
He got to give another person their first ride yesterday: We went for coffee at Tim Horton's after church yesterday, and met a young fellow from New Zealand who was whiling away the hours waiting for an evening bus to go to Banff. We invited him down and ended up putting him in Ted's  uniform for the NWMP and after a short instruction on how the power steering, brakes and reverse work on Beamer, he rode, and did a great job.  Beamer, of  course, was a star.

I even got some video.

You've seen other posts about Beamer giving people their first ride, and I absolutely do not hesitate to do this. Of course, not  when there are mares in heat around! His disposition is exceptional, and it's the reason he's still a stallion. Other than the fact that he puts very nice babies on the ground!

Sunday Stills

This week Sarah gave us the welcome challenge of photographing cats. My three cats are all very different; first there is the reclusive Pearl; she is strictly a house cat, the great outdoors is full of terrors for her. She loves me, tolerates Ted and is petrified when we have company- she hides.

She is actually a calico under that Siamese paint job. Next, there is Foose. He is reserved, not too happy about cuddling but he "allows" it. He loves to be an outside cat and only comes in for food and at night .

Thanks for spotlighting the clover in my flower bed- I know I need to weed it!
Last but not least is Thumper. He's the class clown, the character, lovable and cuddly, and the biggest klutz. I named him Thumper because when he was a kitten he'd try to jump up on things and his big belly would get in the way and he'd fall back with a big thump.

He also talks to you when you call his name. He and Foose are best buddies, they have fun together.

Foose is usually the instigator.

Zoned in on something....

Thumper makes a getaway!

Brothers together

Chickory  was relieved of her baby sitting duties today; it's the big day for Nitro- full weaning. He's not too happy but he'll get over it. After I put all the mares out, I put Rio in with Nitro and let them get used to being together in the big mare pen; they have been hanging out together across the fence from each other so it wasn't a big issue. Once Nitro realized there were no ladies paying him any attention, he buddied up with Rio.

They did a few laps of the pen first. 

In perfect unison.....

They spent the rest of the day hanging out together, then I moved them over one more pen, right next to Beamer- this is the pen that separates Beamer from the mares:

Beamer roared a couple of times, and poor little Nitro about jumped out of his skin, but they settled down quickly.

Tonight I'll put Gussie and Chickory across the fence from the little boys and mama Belle will go in Rio's other stall at night until she dries up, that way she won't be across  the fence from Nitro. I expect Nitro will snivel a lot for the next couple of days but he'll get over it. Meanwhile, the girls are all happy to be together again without any pesky  colts.

Fridays: for Sale

Haven't participated in this for a while, but it's time I got serious about selling some horses.
Y'all know Nitro is for sale, just got to my sidebar to labels and click on "Nitro" to view all the posts with him in them.

Here's how I price my foals: If one of my blog followers buys him off the mare at weaning time, the price is $500. To a non-follower, it's $600. If I keep the foal until spring, it goes up to $1000; by June of the yearling year, it's $1500. The price increases with training as he ages. It's my version of an incentive program to buy at weaning time. These prices are at the farm and includes the registration papers and a signed transfer; any additional paperwork is extra. Nitro is registered, here is his pedigree: Shining Midnite Moon
I'm also selling his dam, Coyote Belle; she is bred to Beamer; click on the links in their names for pedigree info. She sells as broodmare sound due to her injury as a weanling.

We know she puts very nice babies on the ground!

Also for sale is Chickory; she is also bred to Beamer for a foal due in March next year. Her lameness comes and goes, so I  really think it's an abscess. She is started under saddle, but sells as broodmare sound. She should eventually be sound, but I give no guarantees.

The price of these mares is open to negotiation, and I am prepared to be quite reasonable. There is plenty of hay available here too.

Wordless Wednesday

Summer is slippin' away

You could tell there was cooler weather this morning; my mares were my barometer: Gussie and Belle were acting like frisky foals!

They went ripping around, leaping,

 cavorting

and flat out galloping.

Lovely, silly mares!
I rode Beamer last night and today, boy is he ever out of shape, poor boy. Now that we are in to cooler weather, I will be riding more often- I just couldn't ask them to pack me around in that sweltering humidity that we've had for the last month.
Nitro is doing well with the gradual weaning program. The other day I switched out pastures and put him and Chickory in Rio's paddock, over the electric fence  from his mama and Gussie. I'm happy to say that he totally respected the fence and didn't try it even once. He did rip around his new digs though!

Life is good! I think I love the end of summer as much as the beginning of it. It's nice to see the results of your efforts when you see a healthy foal; when you look at your garden and wonder what you are going to do with the hundreds of little yellow tomatoes that one plant is producing, and dig up enough potatoes for 3 meals in one shovelful; when you look at all the flowers in their full glorious beauty- even if you didn't  plan on them getting that hugeomongous-

and especially when there  is just that little hint of cooler weather on the horizon. It energizes me!
 I still have a week of holidays, just need to decide where and what to do. Probably a couple of days down to Kamloops and Enderby to see my dad and some friends, and then somewhere with Gussie. Unfortunately I just got hit with a tax bill so I won't be going too far- maybe explore some of the local trails. I've lived here for 3 years now and don't know any of the trails yet.

Sunday Stills

This week we were challenged to find something bizarre or to photograph something ordinary in a bizarre way; this was one tough challenge! I  tried to get one of each. First, I think it's bizarre the way a Bee Balm flower grows right out of the centre of the flower before it:

By the way, the bee balm is living up to it's name, the honey bees are loving it!
Then I tried the bizarre shot:

Not too happy with the grainy look... but this is the skyline as seen in Beamer's eye. Like I said, tough challenge, but I'm glad for tough challenges, really gets the brain working on these hot summer days when it's much easier to just lay back in the hammock and do nothing!

And the heat goes on...

Well so far Chickory is doing a good job of baby sitting Nitro; this morning I turned them out as usual at 7:30 AM and kept them separate from Gussie and mama Belle until almost 3 PM. Nitro did a little calling, but kept a close eye on Chicky, and spent most of the day grazing at  her heels to take advantage of her  fly-swatter tail. When I let Belle in with them, he went full tilt boogie to meet  her and had a good slurp of milk.

Then it was stuck like glue to mama!

Check out those long toes... he on the list after his mama; I trimmed Rio this morning while it was still cool out; it got up to 95F (35 C) today with a humidex of 100.5. Needless to say I didn't get much done for the rest of the day. In the late afternoon when I was filling horse water tubs Chickory, Gussie, and Rio all wanted to be sprayed down. Belle isn't a fan of spraying, unless I have a halter on her and make her stand.
I measured Rio today, he is officially the same height as Beamer and he's only 16 months old. He's hip high right now , the boy is growing.....

into a very handsome horse! We have decided to leave him a stallion for now, as we hope to send him to the trainers next year, I'd really like him to have a show career. His wounds have all  healed, but he does have some lumps, so no halter classes for him.

Weaning program

It's that  time again.... weaning time! I always adapt according to the circumstances of the year, and this  video shows and explains this year's set up.

There is very little calling going on, and none of it is from Belle- she knows what's going on and is just happy to get out and graze with her BFF. Nitro has always been possessive of Chickory, and she loves the babies, so it's all good.

New masks

The face flies and small biting flies have replaced mosquitoes now, so I finally broke down and bought a couple of fly masks for the boys. Beamer got the Absorbine Ultra Shield mask to replace the one that was a tad too small for him, and I tried a Cavalier on Rio.

(Rio isn't sweating; I had just hosed him off)

The Cavalier was a little too big for Rio

Although he looks like a big boy, he is only a yearling and his head is too small for this mask, you can see the velcro tab sticking out. So I tried it on Gussie, and put Beamer's old mask on Rio which fit much better. 

Gussie welcomed the new mask....

but thinks I should get Mrs. Mom to add a shoo fly fringe to the bottom of it.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew has to use tails for shoo fly protection.
Edited to add: 
Felt sorry  for Belle and Chickory  today, so went and got masks for them too:

Belle got one like Beamers- it's the biggest one I can find. And Chickory got a pretty coloured one:

Odds 'n' ends

Well the auction is over and life is back to normal here- at least, as normal as it gets! For those who don't know we host the occasional auction here, and I do the clerking while Ted is the ring man and relief auctioneer. This was a consignment auction with some pretty neat stuff- but we didn't buy much. I got a  proper pencil sharpener for my art pencils, and Ted got a few things for his shop, but Janice got  some really neat stuff for her gift shop and greenhouse. I'll let her tell you most of it but one really cool thing she got was a claw leg bathtub in awesome shape which she plans on re-selling.  Speaking of Janice....

Anyone recognize this lovely mare? This is Sparkle N Peppy, aka Jazz, the Beamer daughter that Janice owns.I took the photo when I was there last week for my riding vacation. She's looking great, and if my scanner was  working I'd post a photo of Beamer's daddy, because that's who she looks like.
  The fire on the mountain isn't doing much, I think they have a ground crew containing it because I haven't seen any air support for it.
  I did some harvesting in my garden today, the green beans and peas. My tomatoes are coming on gangbusters and I'm battling voles again for my root crops. I have cherries to can, peaches to dry- and I might buy some apricots to dry too.
  And- a lot of horse feet to trim! So don't be surprised if I don't post much this week- but I  sure will be looking for something for Sunday Stills- the subject is "anything bizarre" so I'm hoping I get a good one.

Sunday Stills

Sunday stills this week is all about summer- and these are the things of summer for me. There is always gardening, both flowers.....

and my jungle of a vegetable garden:

Summer harvest... berries:

and hay:

Because, really, summer is all about preparing for winter, don't you know.

But my main delight in summer is riding my horses.

Especially when I get to go with friends.