Outtakes

I always try to get good photos, - you know, well centred, correctly proportioned , good lighting, interesting subject, etc.
Well I actually like some of my outtakes - the ones that don't have all the horse in the photo, or something is just a little off. Like these:
In this one. Kai's ears are cut off- but it helps to focus on his beautiful eye.

In this next one, I was focused on Kai, on the left, as he galloped away, when Rio ran into the picture, resulting in only half the photo in focus.

Here I was panning along with Josie and Rio as they were goofing around, I like the angle Josie is on as it makes her look like she is just "dropping in". I could have cropped it from the withers forward, but decided to leave it as is.

In this one, I was trying to focus on Tess as she watched the horses, but instead got the grass in focus- an interesting oops!

This photo, I was trying to get Josie and Kai in full flight; I like the stretched out photos, but in this one they are all tight and goofy- but it does express their personalities. Grab a mouthful of grass, and dance around being silly!

Had to add in one more that I took early this morning. This is Beamer's girlfriend who was enjoying the early morning rays- darned if she didn't close her eyes just as I snapped the photo- but it adds to the sleepy morning vibe.

Who is who?

Can you tell?

Pupdate: Cinch AKA Phoenix

Here is an update on Phoenix, formerly known as Cinch. He now lives on the West Coast.

Hi Everybody! It’s Cinch, good old #5 - but my new Mom calls me “Phoenix” now. I wanted to tell you what has happened after my long road trip to South Surrey.

 Mom fell in love with me immediately when I gave her “the look”. BOL I have a big brother named Arrow.

 He is 14. We do EVERYTHING together. Mom gave me a herd of three “cat”tle and a flock of cockatiels - that walk on the floor. Tasty? We go to the dog park every day and I walk with a pack of really neat dogs.. Everyone says that I am well socialized. I guess it means that I am friendly.

We also go to the beach and I eat dead crabs, seaweed and other smelly good stuff. I smell great then.

 Mom and I are starting obedience classes on Monday. Mom sure needs it. She won’t do anything that I tell her to do anymore. I already know how to sit and stay down and walk and ring the bells to go potty. Maybe Mom needs some potty bells! I am going to be my Mom’s Service Dog so Arrow is teaching me everything but Mom thinks I need more schooling. I hope that you have jobs, too. Here is what I look like now.

I have feathers on my bum and my tail is getting bushy. I lost another tooth yesterday. I like to carry sticks or grass like Grandma Reba.

Our neighbour Carmen took some nice pictures of me. Send pictures to Aunt Shirley so I can see you.

Pupdate- Roper

Letter to Tess from Roper

 

Dear Mom,

 

I thought you might like to see how well I am doing. 

 

I am getting to be a big boy now and my human mom and I have classes most every day (well when it is not pouring rain as she doesn't like getting wet (hehe) but I do (hehe))  she makes sure I don't pick up any really bad habits as I do try to test her when I get in my so called hooligan mood.  I have a big brother that I can play with after class and 2 sisters (CATS) more play things... hehe and we all get along well. At least I don't have any scratches on my nose !! yet !!

 

I have lots of toys to play with and as you can see when I'm indoors I have lots of hiding places, and all the food and water is just there when I want it.

I am all done at the vet for my puppy shots and they say I don't need to come back until its time to get something called brain surgery.  I guess I will find out what that is all about when I get a little older... I sleep in my cage crate in the porch at night with my family around me.

 

Anyway It's class time so I better go for now.  I'll send more pictures another time.

 

Roper.

Ignorance is not bliss.

I've been brewing this post for a month or so, while I decided what to do.
This spring, I was considering sending Beamer to a farm in Alberta to stand at stud for the season- it would have been a good opportunity for him as I sold all my brood mares last year. One of the requirements was that I get the 5 panel DNA test done that AQHA has for genetic diseases. I thought he would pass perfectly with negative results- but it turns out that he carries one copy of the gene for HERDA. If you read the link, you will see that  one of the horses there is a horse called Poco Pine who this disease traces back to- and he is in Beamer's pedigree. 
A horse that is a carrier, like Beamer, does not have the disease, but when bred to another carrier has a 50%chance of producing a foal with the disease.
Needless to say, I was pretty upset about this and seriously considered Beamer's future as a sire. Do I retire him completely from breeding? Or do I select mares that are not carriers or whose pedigree does not trace back to the horses Poco Pine or Poco Lena?
The issue there is that there is a 50% chance that Beamer could pass on the single gene copy that he carries.
I have made a decision- and that is that I will be selective, and breed only certain mares to him, and only if the mare owner is informed and willing to do a DNA test on the resulting foal to determine if it carries the gene.
I had Coyote Belle tested before I sold her and she was negative for all 5 of the diseases covered by the 5 panel test.. Once I found out that Beamer is a carrier, I tested Josie (Chickory's daughter)- and she is also a carrier.
I feel that I am being a responsible breeder, by making sure that there is no possibility of Beamer being bred to a carrier mare, and as each foal will be tested, the information will stay with that foal so that should any foals be carriers their owners and any future owners if the foal should be sold, will be informed and able to make appropriate decisions should they ever decide to breed. It also means that there will be very few future Beamer babies.
So now, let me introduce you to a mare who is currently in for breeding- a grey appendix mare with absolutely no traces to Poco Bueno or any of his get

She has Dash For Cash and Beduino on her papers, the owners are looking for a rope horse. I am doing a foal share agreement with them, I will get every second foal, and I'm thinking more along the lines of barrel horse.

A rant... sigh...

Good ole blogger is at it again. When I sign into my dashboard, it usually gives me a list of new posts to all the blogs I follow. Now, it gives me one new post, and a button to "view more"..... which of course does not work. Hey blogger, leave things alone! If you are going to change things at least make sure your changes work!!!!!  I'll try to individually visit each blog, and I hope I don't miss your posts.

In which Amber learns....

that it isn't a good idea to work horses.
Beamer was having some flat out fun this morning, and Amber got a little excited. She ran out and barked at him....

I hollered Get out!
And Beamer promptly showed Amber that she is not boss in HIS pasture.

I think he was pretty chuffed with himself after that!

Sunday sillies

The dentist and a lesson

Thursday Kai had his teeth done. He still has some baby teeth, (he is 4 years old) and basically he was in pretty good shape, some sharp points filed and a standard float and he is good to go.

Of course, while he was sedated we branded him with our diamond over lazy H brand. Here is what it looked like the next morning.

See that patch of hair missing on his shoulder? Well..... here's why!

They bite each other in the throatlatch area too- they look like a bunch of range mustangs! I'm glad mares don't play like this, I'm sure it's a boy thing.
Kai is smaller than Rio- but he certainly doesn't back down!

I hauled a couple of mares for someone I know who just bought 2 mares, -first time horse owner- and they needed a ride to the dentist. One of the mares intimidates the owner, so I offered to do a loading lesson. As I was leaving I thought- I should take my helmet and a long lead line. Of course by then I was already on the road with my trailer... so I didn't. Always listen to those little voices, it's usually your guardian angel talking!

I decided to load the more difficult mare first: a 9 year old Appaloosa that they bought sight unseen off the internet. The horse transporter they hired to deliver the mare had a tough time loading her, it took him 2 hours and he was P O'd and ready to give up but managed to get her loaded. So I knew there would be issues. The one time I had seen her before this I could see that she had absolutely no respect for a human's personal space.
I set out first by asking her to work a small circle around me, and point her at the trailer to get to stop working; with the idea that the trailer is a good place to be, the place where I leave her alone. This worked for about 30 seconds.... and then she started shouldering into me and trying to walk over me. So I did what I had to with my stock whip to get her off me, and kept trying. She soon figured out that she couldn't intimidate me by crowding me, so she tried her next trick- bowing her neck away from me, stepping towards me to slam me with her shoulder, then whipping her butt around. (Strong mare, by the way! I couldn't hold her.) Remember that long lead rope I should have brought with me? She nailed me and slam dunked me to the ground. Remember that helmet I should have been wearing? My head bounced off the ground as I landed on my right side, looking up at that big butt right above me and hoping to God that she didn't kick my lights out.
Fortunately, I bounced right up again, caught the mare and got another lead rope to tie onto the one I was using to give me a more workable length. Because I was darn sure that she would do it again... and again... and oh yes she tried- but this time I was ready, and flipped the rope around her off side and hauled her head back around so she had to face me. With 2 eyes. Took about 6 more tries on her part before she figured it out that I had her number, instead of the other way around. Then we could make headway with the loading. Lots of patience, rewarding the slightest effort on her part to move towards the trailer, load the head, back off, load the head and neck, back off, load one foot, back off, etc. I did put a treat on the floor of the trailer to encourage her to lower her head and sniff and explore the entrance to the trailer, and once she had inspected it, it only took about 5 more minutes to load her. Total time- half an hour, and she walked in like it was her idea.
After the dentist appointment, when I went to load her, it took less than 10 minutes. I kept her from turning her head away to do the slam dunk trick, and she did try backing and turning away, but got over it pretty quickly. I have recommended to the owners that they send this mare to a local trainer who uses Clinton Anderson's method, and that they take lessons on how to do that with her.

I am a little sore.....  and I'll listen to my guardian angel next time.

New halter design

I decided to change the placement of the knots on my halters. I didn't like the way the cheek rope would slide up by the eyes when turning the horse, so I made some modifications in the measurements. I'll have Beamer model his new halter for you.

Beamer? *Ahem, Beamer* time to come out of your snug house and pose for us.

Yes, Beamer, you look awesome in blue.

Yes, there is still room for those trademark Beamer yawns!

Oh allright, you can go back to sleep now!

Here are the changes I made: Dropped the noseband knots- the old design had them 9 or 10 inches apart, I now do 12 - 14 inches, depending on the horse. I want the knots to sit below the top of the cheekbone, in the hollow of the jowls. Of course, to compensate I also shortened the measurement to the fiador knot, it's 7 inches here but I think I could go 6. The distance from the throatlatch knot under the jaw to the  cheek knots is shorter too, to keep those cheek side pieces from sliding up towards the eye.

Here is a comparison photo of my old design,  I actually could have had this halter done up tighter as the jaw knot is too far forward. 

Little differences, but they make the halter work much better. 

Rainy Days

The hay in the fields is prime for cutting.... but the weather isn't cooperating. Heavy rain, until Friday- so a lot of the hay is falling over. The humidity is so high here we need at least 10 days of sunshine in the forecast to even think about cutting. My hay supplier is very experienced with local weather, and he always puts up good hay- so I hope he does again this year.
Even my roses look a little sad.

This kind of weather makes me think of one of my favourite Mandy Burnett songs.

Sunday Sillies

Hoffmans minerals are an important part of my feeding program. I think it's a good part of why Kai is looking normal after only one month; his body score is great, he is shiny and has lost all those tufts of winter hair that were hangin' in there.
I think Kai agrees.

The bratz

I often post still shots of Rio and Kai playing and rearing and biting at each other- easy shots to get because they indulge in this behaviour a lot! So here is a video that shows them playing their game:

They both have hair missing on their necks! But they love this game.
Something got their attention when I went out to bring them in- I think a quad loaded with people and dogs.

 Kai is looking almost normal now. I finally got my truck back from the shop, so it's time to start hauling him to the local arena and round pen. I don't have my round pen up any more, I had to use it to make stalls so now I have to haul to do any training.

Whatcha think Kai? Ready to go to work?

I see

Ever wonder about training issues and the horse's vision? Most of us horse people are aware that horses have mainly monocular vision, but remembering that when we are training is another story. We get frustrated when a horse does something well going one way, but going the opposite way it's like it hasn't learned a darn thing. Here is an excellent article (thanks to my friend Carol for posting the link on Facebook)  that explains what the horse can see, and how it sees.  It's interesting to me what it says about collection, and about circling.

Read a good blog

Here is another blog I have found- the Cowboy Dressage blog! Check it out!

In which Kai wipes out

The horses were doing their usual play and morning frolic, but the grass is really wet with heavy dew, as poor Kai found out the hard way!

Who, me?

Josie

I trimmed Josie's tosies today. I think she likes it. Even got a flying lead change!

Sunday Ride

Sunday afternoon, I was weighing up my options... trim Josie's feet or ride Beamer... trim Josie or ride Beamer.... well you can see what won!

We were eyeballing the hay field that we used to ride on; it has just been freshly planted.

However, we did find a way to ride across it, there is a haul road for the fertilizer truck right across the middle of the field.

Oh how lovely it would be to gallop there, huh Beamer?

This is the road, it used to go only partway through but now goes all the way to the dyke.

Down near the banks of the dyke we found the remains of a hunter's elk carcass.

Then we cut across where there was a quad trail through the crop and headed back home. The trees in the distance above Beamer's ears are in our yard. A perfectly lovely Sunday ride!