Riding Rio.... and still waiting....

for Belle to foal. Every sign is there, she just needs to make up her mind!
Meanwhile, Shayla was out today, and had another solo ride on Rio. I think pretty much all the rides will be solo now, maybe a couple in hand as we transition him from the bosal to the snaffle bit now that his teeth are done.

He is nice and soft at the walk and trot, they worked on transitions  today.

Also did some work on getting him to cross over in the front, working a spiral down to the point where he takes one step over with his front, and then on out.

After that, we attempted the beginning of a sidepass, I think she will need to use spurs to get him to listen to her leg, as he's basically a pretty laid back horse. The sidepass will be easier to teach in the snaffle  which he got introduced to today after he was done working .

Then Shayla brought out her show halter and we got some glam shots.

I think the noseband needs to sit up a little higher to perfect it.

He is standing a little downhill here, but he is indeed rump high right now- 15.2 at the hip and he has a lot of filling out to do yet- he wont be 2 for another 11 days.

This pretty boy is now co-owned by Shayla- Ted and I decided to give her a well deserved half ownership in Rio for her upcoming birthday. (Tuesday!) It's going to be a great partnership, I know that Rio will get promoted the way he deserves to be now. Really looking forward to their future together!

Moving on, and a thank you.

After something sad happens, it is natural to seek solace. One drink of Mikes Mango Lemonade, and a good night's sleep put a new outlook on life, and today, when it was time to turn Beamer out, I couldn't help but smile- beautiful horses, beautiful day, there is always something to ease the heart.

Like Beamer, being a goofball:

And poetry in motion....

and Nitro in a perfect halter stance....

I thank each and every one of you who left comments of support, well wishes and prayers. The little ones will always be remembered and loved. The support of family and friends has meant a lot to Ted and I, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Now, it's back to foal watch, Belle should be a mama any time now!

Rose and Cruiser- March 26- March 28 2013

With a heavy heart I have to tell you all that both foals passed away today. In a way I expected it, but I always had hope that we could will them to live and be healthy.With the help of Dave and Shayla, they were cared for around the clock, and yesterday afternoon they both seemed to be doing well. Today, it was as if a flower had bloomed in all it's beauty yesterday and then faded and wilted today. They both were listless and it was obvious to me that they were losing their will to live.
So I will leave you with some photos from yesterday, Rose and Cruiser in all their short but sweet cuteness.

The babes and the winner of half of the foaling contest

Both foals are doing well all things considered. There seems to be no health issues, it's just a matter of them building up their strength, which shouldn't take too long. The filly (named Rose) is doing well at standing once we get her up

- Shayla has really taken a shine to this little girl!- and can balance herself, and even walking unaided. The colt- he seems a little less energetic, and his hind legs- oh so long- are weaker so it is harder for him to balance.

 All that will come with time. They spend a lot of time sleeping.

I really think they are both going to be fine, and I thank everyone for their well-wishes and prayers- your kindness really touched me, even made my eyes leak!

So the winner of the Gussie half of the foaling contest is Susan- she had everything right for one of the foals! Susan, which color of halter would you like, the blue or the camo?

Oh my. Not what I was expecting!

Gussie foaled last night. As I watched the foal come out I was thinking he was pretty small..... Gussie stood up and I saw her passing a big bubble... not your typical afterbirth.... this one contained another foal. Yep. Twins. I quickly peeled away the sacs and she wasn't breathing, no heartbeat, so I gave her CPR- just compressing her ribs gently and pretty quick she had a really strong heartbeat, but oh so tiny a filly!

The black one is the colt, the red roan is the filly.

They are both too weak to stand on their own, so we built them a straw bale pen to keep Gussie from stepping on them.

I was up all night with them, they were hungry every couple of hours. I milked Gussie and fed the babies with a syringe, they got at least 100cc of colostrum in their first 4 hours. I'm headed uptown now to find a bottle for them, I think we will combine making them nurse of mama (not very good at it yet- the filly can barely reach!) with bottle feeding them mama's milk.
I talked to the vet, he said that in his 30 years of vet practice he only knows of one set of Quarter Horse twins that survived. I plan to make it two.
I have more photos but I will post again later. Duty calls! (And so does a nap, when I get time!)

And the winner is.....

Wow- 44 names for the giveaway! You guys are the best! 

I wrote all the names out,

 cut 'em in strips,

 folded 'em up,

 put 'em in my hat,

mixed and shook 'em up, had my husband do the draw.

 and the winner is.....
drum roll.....

CG, send me an email at diamondlazyh641@hotmail.com with you snail mail address and I'll send you your surprise package!

Thanks everyone, it was a lot of fun reading your comments. 

And now, my mare is waxing... again.... and it's a full moon night so maybe just maybe we'll have cute li'l foal pics for my next post!

1500 and a giveaway

Edited: Contest is now closed!
There's been lots going on since my last post, but I've been holding back, waiting for foals to be born because this is my 1500th post, and I wanted to celebrate by showing off a new foal- but alas, the mares have other plans. They are both officially overdue now- and you wanna bet that tomorrow there will be a foal? I have nicknamed them the Titanic Twoesome.

Their big heavy bellies didn't stop them from having a little fun when we finally got a sunny day....

But I'm pretty sure Gussie over did it and slipped in the mud- probably doing this:

I think she slipped in the mud that is in the center of the pen today because she is lame, not wanting to put weight on her left front leg. When she stands on it the muscles from her elbow up start quivering and she takes the weight off that leg, I can't feel any heat but I did find some ropy muscles in the shoulder so I massaged and put anti- inflammatory and anti-spasmodic oils on her. I'm hoping it will pass quickly, and I've confined her back in her foaling stall. Hint- Gussie, it's a FOALING stall!

Anyway, Rio got his teeth floated today, and while he was in lala land we branded him- thanks, Ted!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to see a bald eagle circling right above us, and even with my little pocket camera managed to snap a decent photo.

They are such an awe inspiring bird- but I'm glad little Merle wasn't running around!

So, since this is my 1500th post, I'm going to do a giveaway- a surprise- all you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I will do a random draw for the winner. I must say thank you to all the people who follow or read this blog on a regular basis, it really does inspire me to keep going.
Thanks from all the gang at Diamond Lazy H Quarter Horses!

Ponying Rio, and Chickory's baby

Shayla and I had a really good session with Rio and Beamer today. I have been wanting to get the two boys to be comfortable around each other without any silly studly behavior so that this summer, we can trail ride together. We started out leading both of them, getting them used to being in formation together. Rio just towers over Beamer now.

Shayla got on and rode while I continued to lead the boys, and it was going so well that I finally got on Beamer and ponied Rio- it was pretty cool!

He is coming along so well and seems to really like Shayla and his new life as a riding horse.

I got permission to use these photos of Chickory's baby- she is so precious! She has blue eyes right now, how cool would that be if they stayed blue.

How cute is that?!!!! Meanwhile, Gussie is so ready, I sure hope she foals tonight. Maybe another redhead?

We're on a roll!

Got news from Chickory's owner that she foaled last night- a red filly!

Hopefully there will be more photos later today. Of course, this answers the question- Beamer is not homozygous for black, he can throw red based babies.
Speaking of babies, stay tuned.....

Gussie is waxing.

Auction goodies

Ted and I worked at an auction on Saturday, and I found a few items to follow me home. I bid on a box of stuff because of a nearly new set of Wahl animal clippers in it, got the boxful for $5 and it had a few good things in it. Also got this lovely Austrian dish:

This is the makers mark on the bottom:

I googled it and apparently it's from the 1890's to 1900's. Cool!
Also got some of these:

The left one used to be a butter churn, the middle one has no bottom and the other one Ted is claiming, so I get the other two for planters.
Also got a galvanized tub with some old harness bits that came out of a mine. A good day!
And yes, we do have green and growing grass here in Canada- not all of us are getting the nasty spring storms that are hitting Alberta and the mountainous areas.
The mares are still hanging in there. I heard from Chickory's owner- she is waxing so stand by- baby pics coming soon!

The girls and Rio stuff

Last night, all snugged down in the camper, listening for any sounds that might foretell imminent foaling, I was treated to horses snoring in 4 part harmony- I kid you not. Gussie was the percussion, with her long low grunts ending in an "ooof" . Belle chimed in with shorter staccato mid range, Beamer was the melody line, and Rio- well Rio was the bass- and he nearly drowned out the rest of them! Boy sure can snore!
At my 3 AM check, Gussie was lying down, and kept looking at her flanks, I think baby is moving into foaling position. She seems to be carrying a little lower today.

Compare this to Belle, who seems to need a Wide Load caution sign!

I sure hope they foal out soon, I just.can't.wait! I'm pretty sure they are about over it too, Gussie was pretty grumpy today.
Maybe it was just the weather or something in the air, but Rio was a little off today too; when Shayla saddled him up it was pretty obvious that he had a little hump in his back, and even though he did really well in the training session for halter, when she asked him to trot he kept blowing out on her,

So expressive, you can see by this photo that he had a li'l 'tude today

 so off to the round pen we went, to give him a chance to really work and get rid of some of that pent up energy that was keeping him from focusing.
Some free longeing , changes of direction and making him work really helped. A few sessions of doubling him into the fence, go halfway around and double again, really got him working. If I wasn't so busy admiring his rollbacks I would have had the presence of mind to take photos. But I did get a video of his lovely trot, and the nice soft stop at the end of it.

After a bit he was following Shayla around, turning and backing without any leadrope on him- join-up!
So then it was riding time. Of course he loved that, and I'm telling you he can really stride out! I had to hustle to keep up, so Shayla rated his walk back, and did some walk-trot transitions, and she is starting to ask for lateral moves too. He does these fine as ground work, and is learning to translate it to being ridden.
I wanted to take a couple of photos, so I dropped the lead rope on the ground, and stepped back for the shot- he was good, didn't move an inch.

Nice!

Wordless Wednesday