Good boy, Drifter!

The rain abated this afternoon, and as the sun came out I headed to the barn and spent some time with Drifter.
I love the quiet calmness of this colt. I thought it was time to try trailer loading him, so I thought, take him to the barn and see if he will go in there first.
He stopped at the entrance and thought about it....

but not for long.

Well, that went well so off we went to the horse trailer.

This colt has the best mind ever! So willing and quiet.
If any of you noticed, his left hind ankle being a bit large, couldn't find any heat or injury so figured it was just stocked up so I took him for a walk. We wandered around all over the place for about a half hour, checking out puddles.....

and picking up the odd bit of trash lying around and throwing it in a dumpster, visiting Beamer...

and generally just enjoying a sunny afternoon stroll. About then Shayla came over so of course I had to show her all the neat things Drifter did.

Stylish boots! It has been raining enough to warrant wearing them!

Love that he wasn't in a hurry to leave the barn.



He quietly loaded in the trailer again.

And I also had a standing tied session with him.

Not the best photo of him but it shows how calmly he stood there for at least 15 minutes. Thumper came along after a bit and entertained us:

Overall it was a pretty nice way to spend an afternoon! I'm so pleased with this colt.

Kind of an awesome simple day.

The highlight of my day.

We put Sassy and Ice in with Drifter this morning, it was pretty boring.

Later in the day, I caught mama Belle and put her in Drifter's pen, and we put Drifter in with all the other mares (except Rose). Once again it was pretty boring. 

It went well enough that I decided to keep Belle separate (she is in the foaling pen) until tomorrow after Church, then I will put her in with the rest of the herd. She is the boss mare and I wanted Drifter to be comfortable in the new pen before she came in with him and let him know just how important she thinks  she is. 

So Drifter gets to live with the herd after tomorrow. If the weather is bad I will put either him or Belle in the foaling pen, so that they can all hang out under the shelter; it isn't quite big enough for 6 horses. 

I'm getting some interest in Mesa now, so hopefully she will soon find her person. 

Riding day 79

Making friends

It's time to get Drifter in with the herd soon so we started by putting Mesa in with him. 

You can see how tall he is here compared to a long yearling- he will finish out nearly 2 hands taller than Mesa.

This was the extent of the drama, Mesa wanting to get the last lick of the pan.

Drifter quickly moved out of range, and they settled into a quiet companionship.So this will be the new normal: Drifter goes out into Rose's pen, she goes in Drifter's smaller pen and Mesa goes in with Drifter during the day. Tomorrow we may add another horse into the mix- maybe Gussie, as we want to be able to turn Drifter out with the mares by Sunday. As long as we can catch him when he is with the others, all should go according to plan. Come March I will have to separate him out as the mares will be starting to come into heat then but he can be part of the herd until then.

Drifter day 11 and trail time

A while ago I read something about the Sun Frost horses, that they don't like to be nagged, just give them a job let them figure it out and then leave them alone. So, with that in mind, we came to the conclusion that Drifter was bored with being led around his small pen. So, we changed it up and took him into the adjacent pen, where Rose lives and put Rose in his pen meanwhile- and he led like a champ!

Shayla did some work on asking him to back up, and picked up his feet too. Later on in the day, we decided that he was good to take his first walk out of the pens. He got to go explore a bit, greet the mares who bothered to come up and visit, and even posed for a photo for his registration papers.

Not the best photo, but since I broke my big camera cell phone pics will have to do. Now if only his ears were forward.... may have to take more to get a better photo.
I have had a couple more rides, one was just the trails out back on a pretty fall day.



We found a nice spot down by the river for photo ops.

I think the horses enjoy the view as much as we do!

The next ride was all about ponying Mesa saddled.

She's just one of the girls now! Stands for saddling, is mostly good about standing tied although she does test it a time or two.
 This was her first time ponying saddled and I wanted to take her through all the trails in the bush to get her used to the sound of brush on the saddle.
However...
Gussie went on high alert as soon as we went near the pond. I pushed on, and big Red was still on high alert, and then Rose was too. As I tried to branch off down a trail, Shayla spotted what the mares were kerfuffled about. In my defense, I had my hands full with Gussie and Mesa so I wasn't looking around much!

Can you see it? (Love the double ear cam! Rose and Goose)

How about now?
A cow moose and her calf - we decided they had the right-away and retreated.  We headed back through the yard and off to the trail that leads to the swimming hole and then back along the dyke and home again.
No wild life, but there were people with dogs, and a quad with a dog, so lots of things for Mesa to look at. She did pony really well, I'm pretty happy with her.

Riding day 77 and 78

Drifter- day 9 and 10

Working with colts is so rewarding but at the same time- it is... work. Some days they are so good, you think everything is going to be easy with them. Case in point... trimming his feet. He did so well the day before, that when I worked with him the next day, I figured I would try my nippers on his toes. Sure enough, he didn't mind, so when Shayla came later in the day, he got his first trim.

He was a very good boy! We gave him lots of lovin'  and he was lapping it up.

Well, next day, as can happen with colts, it was a step back. A simple leading lesson turned into a lot of work. He started out ok, but then sulled up and basically said, "Nuh-uh, I ain't movin' my feet".

Oh yeah? Well then...

The rope around the rump trick got him moving again, but he kept resisting with just leading without it. So next step was the rope around the hip-turn and face- step forward routine, which he does quite well, except for that "forward " part...
Which earned him more pressure than we have yet had to apply to him. And I don't mean pulling on him. What I did was offer him to lead and walk with me, and when he refused, I shortened up the lead rope and turned his head towards me and stepped actively towards his hip, close in, so that he had to move that hip out of my way, and if he didn't move I bumped him with my knee or hip. After a bunch of that, I would offer him the soft feel again of just leading quietly behind me... rinse and repeat... it took several sessions of him having to work at moving his hip before he quietly followed  on a loose lead.
I actually wasn't surprised and was happy that we had this session, because with those quiet colts that seem so easy, if you don't test them and they don't test you, it might happen when you aren't prepared for it and then things can go south. This session established some ground rules for him, namely that we humans do have leadership over him; and that he can do what is being asked of him ( and we are always sure that it's within reason for his age and training level) or he can work , his choice.
I'm actually curious to see what he is like today; when I took the halter off him yesterday he just stood there for a bit, licking and chewing.

Drifter Day 7

Day 7 was a review of the day before. It started out with me being able to walk up to him in the pen and pet him on the neck.... once without him walking away first, and then he started walking first before letting me approach.
Since I have been doing all the initial work, this time it was Shayla who started working him. Walk up to him in the pen and not the classroom, catch him, pick up all his feet, sack him out with the rope, lead him. Mission accomplished!

Catching: 

Working with his feet:

Leading and rope work:

Loving this colt more every day! He seems to advance every day. Today (Day 8) he let me catch him while he was eating his ration, and pick up all four feet, hold them by the toe and circle the leg as I lowered it to the ground. No snatching his leg away or getting upset. We should be able to get his feet trimmed within a few days. Also he let Shayla deworm him yesterday, and this morning she was petting him while cleaning his pen, without him walking away.

Good boy, Drifter!

Drifter Day 6

This was a big day for Drifter!

I'm just itchin' to trim those feet, so that will be the priority over the next week- get him comfortable with his feet being handled.

He is getting the halter figured out quite well too.

After a few minutes in the classroom it was time to take him out into his pen....

We are really happy with this colt! Another thing we did was measure his leg for his future height.....

drum roll....

he is going to be just over 16 hands!!!! I knew he was a big colt but wasn't expecting quite that big. Most of my leg measurements have been either right on or a bit on the conservative side so it's going to be interesting to see how he finishes out.

I have pretty much met my week's goal with him, he lets us approach him in the pen and love up on him, although he still does try to walk away at first. So this next week will be all about touching him all over, lifting his feet and holding them by the toe, and once he is leading really well  take him into the pen attached to the one he is living in for longer walks. I want to be able to integrate him into the herd for the winter, those mares will keep him in line.

Good boy, Drifter!

Drifter day 5 and a ride with a view

What a good day yesterday! Drifter is getting things figured out.There were several times yesterday when we could just hang out with him and pet his nose and neck; he doesn't let us approach him from the side yet. I think I did that once yesterday, but generally he is more comfortable to meet us nose first.
When it's time to work him, I block him a couple of times and he heads straight to the stall in his favourite corner, his safe zone. I call it the school room.
This session was all about getting the halter on, tied, and getting him to follow the pressure instead of leaning against it. He did really well.

Today we will be haltering him and taking him out of the stall into his pen. As well, it's time to start picking up his feet, he really needs a trim!

Then it was time to haul Rose and Gussie and enjoy the day, and such a beautiful fall day.

Shayla showed me some of the trails she grew up riding, this one is the tower ridge that rises above Creston and Erickson, looking down onto the orchard fields.

Pretty valley, isn't it?

This view is pretty much directly above our place; where those fields end is where the Goat River bottom valley banks are, and those fields in the distance are the ones we come out on when we ride across the river and up that steep road.
After that we explored a bit and I got to see where the trails connect with the lease land next to our place. If I had the gate key with me we could have ridden down and ended up home again.

Riding day 76

Drifter Day 4

Every morning, I really look forward to playing with Drifter. We gain every day, and it's kind of fun. This morning in pictures:

The halter isn't done up, I just ran the tail through the tie loop without tying it. I did a little work getting him to give to pressure, then let him go.

In the afternoon, I came and hung out with him, sitting on his hay pile. It took him a few minutes to get used to me being so close, but....

He really likes getting his head rubbed, and I ran my hand down all 4 of his legs today.

Ugggghhh, my voice sounds like a frog croaking!

Later on at feeding time, I hung out by his hay again, this time standing up, and he let me touch his nose a couple of times, and then reached out and touched me on his own.. even let me give him a kiss on his muzzle! 

I think tomorrow I will be able to do the halter up in the stall. 

One more thing...

I took Beamer for a little ride today and let him meet the new boy. Rode Gussie for a bit too. 

Riding day 75

Training begins!

Drifter's training has commenced. My goal is to get a halter on him, get him giving to pressure, and leading... within the week. 

Sunday, I used my stock stick to act like and extension of my arm. He checked it out, sniffing it....

then I worked him a bit until he went into the stall. I closed the gate on him... he wasn't happy about losing his freedom.

There was a point where he tried to get over the gate when Gussie was checking him out, he got a leg over it but I got all gangster on him and backed him off. I didn't go in the stall with him, just worked him over the wall. 

Once he got over his pout, he let me rub him all over with the stick, no tickly spots, just accepting it. You could see his li'l brain computing all this new experience! He let me touch him eventually and even scratch his butt. I was also able to pull the burrs out of his mane and forelock and his left ear.

I spent about a half hour with him, and eventually opened the gate and walked away. He just stood in there for a few minutes, didn't bolt out of there- just stood there thinking it over.

This morning, at chore time, I was able to rub him with the stick out in the pen. Then he volunteered to go into the stall so I went in, leaving the gate open. Once again, rubbed him with the stick and then he let me pet him and give him scratches. This time, I had the halter with me and spent some time rubbing him with it. He's an interesting colt, not fearful at all, very self assured, and not timid. 

I went in and played with him a few times today. I took the halter and used it just around his neck asking him to give to pressure, and he had to think about it a bit but gave a step and got the release of pressure. After about 4 times, I stopped and walked away. He is almost to the point where I can walk up to him in his pen and pet him... not quite there yet. But for an untouched colt who has only been here three days I'm pretty happy with him. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to get the burr out of his right ear!

When he knows I'm going to work him, he goes into his stall and to the far wall and just stands there and waits for me.

Shayla got to play with him too:

We are both pretty happy with Drifter! I only wish I had been around him when he was a little guy, he would have been half broke by now!

New hay barn and new beginnings

There has been a lot going on here in the last week!
Gussie got a schooling ride with Shayla, working on really being soft, as most of the other parts depend on softness in the face and body.



She's coming along; I rode her the next day and could feel her being lighter- what a pleasure.



A nice leisurely ride to take in the fall colours.

Shayla came with me on the next ride- gotta get as many in as possible now! She is leaving at the beginning of November to spend the winter in California interning at an Arabian show barn.
Also we went for a little ride with a friend who came to try out my Wade saddle. She took it home to try on her mare.

The hay barn is done now! From this:

to this:



Oh that makes me happy! There are 24 bales, 4x4x8, over 16 tons of hay in there. That is 8 months supply at the rate I am feeding now. Plus there is another couple of bales under tarps to be used up first. The construction isn't quite done, Ted still has to put the fascia board on the header, and the tin up on the back wall. We attached black tarps to the long side wall to keep out the weather and I tarped the hay at the front.

But here's the really big news and the reason I haven't been posting....

We made a deal on the Sunfrost/Driftwood colt! At least I should say Shayla made the deal, and I am buying a half interest in him. We do have to 5 panel test him, so if he remains a stallion depends on the results, but I am pretty sure he is good because his sire is clear and his dam comes from a line of 5 panel clear horses. We brought him home on Friday.
He is going to be a big boy. He has the same birthdate as Tumbleweed, and I think he is going to end up between 15.2 and 16 hands.

He doesn't have the prettiest head. He does however have good stuff going on inside that head. For a colt that was never handled, just run out in pasture with a herd of mares and foals, he is not too flighty, he is curious and has come up and touched us if we are seated on the ground. We just go about the business of pen cleaning and feeding and don't pussyfoot around him. He walks between us, doesn't go hide in a back corner like some of the untouched foals I have had over the years. So I think it's fair to say he is good minded and should be easy to work with.

Saturday afternoon

We brought him home around dark; we utilized the chutes at an auction market to load him. He was with his mama in the seller's trailer, so we got a good look at her- I would have brought her home too if I could! Nice mare.

We named him Drifter.

Shayla's mare Rose got evicted from the foaling pen section of the new pen we built, so that Drifter could have shelter; Rose is blanketed to prevent hair growth as she will be wintering in California. She is a dominant mare....

and made sure baby Drifter knew that she was large and in charge, even over the fence.

However...



she does allow him to hang out with her.  There is evidence that they spend the night side by side.

The rest of the herd takes turns investigating him. Belle gives him the snarky mare treatment, but the others are more or less just checking him out.

So far, we are pleased with him. We know he isn't perfect, but he suits the plans we have for him.

Check out all that chrome!

Welcome to the Diamond Lazy H herd, Drifter!

Riding day 72, 73, 74

These autumn days

Lots of things going on here lately. The other day when we went to Canyon and worked on Gussie's lead changes I got a nice video that I finally downloaded.

A few days ago, Sassy colicked. In the morning at chore time she was laying down and didn't get up like she normally would. Sure enough... colic. Shayla gave her banamine and we put lots of DiGize on her belly; poor thing was really hurting. Once the banamine kicked in it was a little better, and she passed gas, but she had projectile diarrhea most of that day and the next. 2 days of treatment and on the third day she finally started pooping almost normally. She got peptobismal, probiotics and electrolytes, and a very worried Shayla checked on her regularly, staying with her for hours. Turns out that several horses were down with colic at the same time, my vet friend in Sandpoint had several cases of gas colic on the same day. She said the weather changes can trigger it. We didn't know what had caused Sassy's colic, the only thing we could think of was the little bit of grass that had come up in one of the pens that all the horses were nibbling on. But the other horses weren't affected except Gussie had soft poo, but she has always been sensitive to feed changes. Fortunately Sassy is fine now but it was a worrisome 3 days.

Ice got turned into the mare herd today, and it went fairly well.

Mesa got all excited and went ripping around, which got everyone else going too. I think Ice was pretty happy to get out and have some fun.

She and Mesa continued to play, while Belle and Gussie went and chilled out in the shelter as if to say. "Kids these days!" We had put Sassy in the other pen with Rose to keep her company. Sassy wasn't too happy about that because Rose is getting fed the coarser first cut hay (easy keeper!) so Sassy will get put back in with the others tomorrow.

To encourage Sassy's guts to get back to normal we went for a little bareback ride . I think it helped as she really started to get normal poops that evening.

Sure was a nice evening to ride!

The fall colours are in full splendor now, and I just love the smell of fall.

I did some trading with Shayla and ended up getting a pair of Streamz fetlock bands for Beamer. The Little Yellow Pill wasn't doing enough to keep him sound, and at about $60 a month, it wasn't worth it so I wanted to try the Streamz. I must say, they sure seem to be working! He is walking so much better and even ripping around in his pen!

They come in pairs, so one on each ankle. They are not meant to be used when riding but otherwise can be left on 24/7.  I told a friend who has rheumatoid arthritis about them and he is going to try a pair on his wrists. Hope it works for him too.

 Mesa is still for sale, had someone supposed to come but she didn't show up or let us know she wasn't coming... ugghh..  but meanwhile we continue to work with her. 

She is such a chill little thing! 

In the pasture she is quite a character. She is pretty sure she is everybody's darling and gets her little nose into everybody's  business, and has the marks and hair missing to prove it! You have to watch as you go out the gate as she just might be coming with you just like your shadow! She is quite adorable. Tomorrow she will be going for a trailer ride - I will haul her and Gussie to the arena and pony her saddled. I haven't hauled her yet so it's high time she got that figured.

This is Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, so- happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends! and hope everyone has a great weekend.

Riding day 71

Changes

The next ride was hauling Gussie and Rose to the arena. I enjoyed Gussie's newly calm lope, it felt like a rocking chair :0)
Then Shayla worked her on lead changes. And we stopped when she got one right even though it wasn't pretty. It isn't that she doesn't know how, it's getting her to change consistently when asked.

It wasn't a great lead change, but it was a good effort. Something to build from.
The next ride was a little trail ride around here, just chillin' with the roanie ponies. And then giving Shayla's dog Goose a li'l ride .



Gussie has finally got the weight on her that I wanted but that darn saddle still doesn't fit right. She has hollows behind her high wither so the saddle slides back which ends up putting the pommel too low over the wither. And yes, I do start with the leading edge of the bars sitting right behind the shoulder blades. I'd love to get it sold so I can start shopping for one that fits better.

Mesa is doing really well, and is finally filled out and growing. Currently she is just over 14 hh at the hip and just over 13 hh at the wither- definitely a growth spurt growing on. She is nearly 17 months old. She looks petite, but I think that's deceptive; I think she will be a solid built horse when she is all done growing.

I really, really need to get her sold.... because I think I have found what we are looking for in a colt.

Not posting pics yet because it isn't a done deal until we come up with the money; he will be co owned by Shayla and me- but here is the pedigree of his sire: 

PC Manwood Ike

And his dam: 

LMP Maple Ike

We really wanted a Driftwood / Sun Frost cross, because there isn't anything quite like that around these parts, and they are known to be good, versatile using horses for everything from barrels to roping to ranching- just good horses that aren't fad horses. I can't believe we found one within a few hours of here!

So please pray that we find the perfect home for Mesa, soon!

Riding day 69 & 70