Enduring

 Well the reprieve was short....

That's our house and the photo was taken mid morning.

Town photo

the smoke came back with a vengeance. We were privileged to be awarded the worst air quality on earth yesterday. Air quality index of 415. Bah. Pah Ptooey. Harrumph. *Gasp choke*

But life goes on. Dally is doing well; I did advertise her and have a fair amount of interest in her. 

Standing "tied" is going well, I think she is ready to actually be tied now. Under supervision of course. 

The mornings are fairly cool, albeit smoky, so that's when I spend most time with her. I really want to get on to the trailer loading and walkabouts but that's going to have to wait for less heat and less smoke. 

Well look at that!

 

No smoke this afternoon! Clear to the east.

Almost clear to the west. Nice to see the mountains again! And clouds - bonus!

However, the heat wave continues. Monday it's supposed to cool off a bit- the first day under 90 something for a while. 

Here is what the Wildfire website says about the fire closest to us:  

Resources
• 54 firefighters
• 3 helicopters
• 4 heavy equipment
Crews continue small-scale ignitions to ease the fire to the control line where it can be suppressed. Firefighters are working northward along the control line to secure the fire up to the Lockhart Park boundary. Helicopters are supporting ground crews with bucketing. Heavy equipment continues line construction and crews are extending hose lays to the north toward Lockhart, which is now almost complete. Planning is underway for a control line closer to private land in the event that already established lines are breached. A structure protection specialist is on site completing an assessment of the area and devising a plan to protect structures should they be imminently threatened. Crews continue to monitor the fire 24 hours a day. As of 0900 July 28, the fire remained within the planned containment area. Conditions permitting, fixed-wing skimmers and air tankers remain at the ready to respond to this fire if the need arises.

Sure could use some rain. They say chance of showers for Monday and Tuesday, usually means about 5 minutes of a light rain. But any little bit is welcome!

Smoke and tie

 While so much of the world is flooding and soggy (Germany, China, the Eastern US and many other places) we in western North America are being scorched. And burned. There is no balance in nature this year, just like there is no balance in the way the powers that be are managing worldly affairs. These are very trying times. 

No mountains visible to the east or west

Smoke fills the air , it lays heavy on the ground

I worry about the horses breathing all that smoke. It bothers me to breathe it, it must affect them some too. Beamer has a bit of a cough, but not all the time. 

There are currently no fires close by, and some days the wind drives the smoke away, so we get a reprieve. 

Meanwhile, I have started teaching Dally about standing tied. Just a few minutes at a time. She is being pretty good about it; some of my leading lessons with her where she tried to pull away from me and couldn't , and even had to work when she tried that, have set the foundation for this new step in her training.

I have a loop of rope tied through the boards and around the support post in the shelter. Note that Dally is not tied at this point, her lead is just looped through.

Day 1

Day 2

I'm pretty happy with the way she is handling this so far. I will increase the time of the sessions gradually as well as stepping farther away from her as we progress. While all this is going on, mama is close by eating hay. 

Good girl, Dally!

Sunday Stills- Where you sit

 Other than at my desk or on the couch watching TV, here are my favourite places to sit. 

In my barn, the chair is under this window. I haven't been sitting there much lately due to having to share the space with Charlotte. I usually sweep the web away after fly season, so this is more of a winter spot. Charlotte gets to have it for the summer. 

Outside, I sit in the shade of the willow tree. I love its branches that arch almost to the ground, making an umbrella like canopy with plenty of room to sit . 

The view from my kitchen table. Protected by the Holy Family. 

For more Sunday Stills go here

Velvet

 Aurora was asking about Velvet. 

  

Her registered name is Peppys Blue Velvet. She is a blue roan daughter of Gussie and Beamer. When I sold Gussie the first time, she was carrying Velvet. (Velvet was her second foal, the first being the blue roan colt, Choctaw Peppy aka Peppy ) I made a deal with the purchaser to buy the foal back at weaning time which I did. She was born in 2009, the year we moved to Creston. 

She looks very much like her mama

As a 2 yr old I sold her to a lady who ended up selling her again as she got pregnant with her first child and decided riding a green horse was not a good idea. She was sold to a lady in Alberta who also wasn't confidant riding a green horse, then was sold again to Saskatchewan - I tried to buy her back then as she had an injury to her hock but she ended up being sold to a Mennonite farm in southern Saskatchewan where she is , as far as I know, to this day. 

I have a few videos to share with you. She was a lovely mover and ended up being 16 hh, taller than both her parents.

Update: I phoned her current owners, they were kind enough to talk to me, a stranger to them. Velvet is doing well, has has one foal, and is basically living a life of ease, doesn't get ridden much and is out on pasture with other mares. Sounds like they really like her and they definitely don't want to part with her.

Letting go

 Sometimes you just know.

I have been raising quarter horses since 1995, and over the years I have become fairly adept at judging the personality and abilities of the foals I raise. 

Some of them are born sweet (Tumbleweed, Moondance, Mesa) and some of them are born with a workable disposition but needing reassuring (Rio, Kai, Eli) and some of them are born with an exuberant attitude (Nitro, Velvet ) and some of them are just positive that their opinion is the one that counts (Pistol, Dally.)

Dally is friendly and loves to come and visit for scratches. She is getting easier to halter and lead but often needs to be convinced that yes, she does have to put up with it!

All that being said, I'm sure you know what's coming next. 

Dally is going up for sale at weaning time. She is the kind of horse that needs a job and consistent handling and work, not the laid back life I am leading. Reining, roping.working cow horse, gaming, ranch work- she should shine in any of those areas. I had a bit of a tough time making this decision because I sooooo wanted a Beamer filly- but I know Dally is not the right fit for me. And I trust my instincts born of 26 years of raising foals. So I have to let go of that dream, at least for now.

Drought, danger and Dally

 This summer is reminding me of 2017 with all the fires and smoke laden air.

This is the current map of the fires in our province. We are in that south east corner.

This map shows our area. We are Creston. The red line is the USA border, 6 miles from us. The long narrow lake is Kootenay Lake. 

The fire north of Wynndel is the Akokli Creek fire. While it is not much of a threat to us, residences in the area close to the fire are under evacuation alert. 

The fire on the other side of the lake is very visible,

 and is probably going to be allowed to burn itself out, as it is in an area that is bordered by the lake on the east and there are no structures anywhere near it- the fire crews are stretched thin with so many fires that are posing danger to communities. 

However, the smoke is a problem for those of us who have breathing problems. 

The sunrise is red from the smoke and the sun is a red ball in the sky most of the day.

We do what we can to get by. There is no end in sight for the end of this heat wave, our 7 day forecast has clear skies and temps in the mid to high 90's. 

We are fortunate that we are on a well system, which allows us plenty of water for essentials like keeping our gardens alive, and our pond still has water which we can pump from if needed . Today we are going to set up our fire hose and sprinklers so that we can have them ready to keep the barn watered down if needed. I would hate to lose all that hay! 

I keep spare buckets of water handy at the barn- much to the delight of the thirsty wasps. 

Meanwhile, Dally is finally getting this get-caught-eat-grain program figured out. In the last 3 or 4 days she has only played hard to get once. 

She is 2 months old  now. She is quite a little character! Smart though. Our little walks are still in the pasture; I have only taken her out of the pen a couple of times. She isn't quite ready for more adventurous walks yet, she has to learn good leading manners first. No leaping around! So far my verbal corrections are working. 

Sunday Stills- In your bag

 I must confess, I almost didn't do this challenge. I couldn't think of anything that was photo worthy that was in a bag! But then I looked in my tack room.

I loved the colours and patterns, so what's in the bag? Why, Epsom Salts! One of the staples of my medicine cabinet. Great for soaking an abscess or just for tired muscles.

For more bag exposes go here!

I shoulda known

 Here's the thing about foals... they aren't consistent. It takes time to build a foundation on them so that they are . 

So, even though Dally was a good girl as per my last post, well, her red headitude has come back into play.

I have switched from catching her in the afternoon to the mornings which are much cooler. Even though Jayne gets her grain in the afternoon, I found that Dally has used being caught as an excuse to play games, and having a foal running full tilt boogie in the hot afternoon sun (there is no end in sight to this heat wave) is not a good idea. 

Yup that's what she does. 

She absolutely loves getting scratched with my manure fork, and parks herself beside the muck bucket and gives me side eye, like "hurry up, itchy here!" So like a good servant, I comply. Then I try to catch her so she can get groomed with a nice soft rubber brush, which she loves, and give her her grain. Try being the key word!

As soon as she sees the halter approaching, I get this:

and this:

and this:

So what I do, is keep her from coming in to mama , who is happily eating hay in the shelter. As long as she has this look:

she is not allowed to come in to rest. 

Eventually she thinks better of it, and when she does this:

I allow her to come in and have a slurp from mama (thirsty work, that galloping around!) Once she is with mama she usually lets me catch her. If she still plays silly booger, I toss the lead rope at her and drive her out again, usually only takes a few minutes before she decides to "allow" me to catch her. 

I am certainly seeing how athletic she is! When she runs flat out and gets to the fence, she literally drops her butt in the dirt for a sliding stop and roll back. And accelerate-wow! This is a horse that needs to go into a performance event, it would be a shame to waste all that talent. Reining, roping, cow horse- she is bred to do all of that. Thing is she won't be very big. I will wait a couple months to get a better measure, but I am guessing 14.2 max.

Form to function  she is built to perform!

Dally is a good girl

 The last couple of days Dally has shown progress. Remember those leaping videos... well now she has gotten over that. 

I can now walk up to her, offer the halter, and she pretty much sticks her nose in it. This is the point I have been waiting for, to continue with her training. 

Yesterday was her first day out of the pen without mama. I can now get her on my program of eating her own grain instead of sharing Jayne's, and get her used to all the things she has only seen from a distance.  

I also take her for little walkabouts- very short ones, in sight of mama for the first little while.

Overall she was really good. She had one little moment when she jumped and spilled her grain, but it was very minor, and she settled right down. 

On the first few walkabouts I don't worry too much about where they go, just wanting them to be willing to move out and explore. As you can see, she circled mea few times, which is her staying in her comfort zone. As we progress she will get braver. 

I am a good girl!

Sunday Stills- Flowers

 It will be fun to see everyone's flowers! Here are some of what I have blooming at this time.

Volunteer snapdragons, growing out of the boards on my wagon garden

Frilly day lily

and gladiolus

For more Sunday Stills click here

"Tude

 Dally is at the point of needing more training. I have let things slide a bit in this heat, which is continuing week after week.😒

The good stuff- she is getting easy to catch and halter, she is over being touchy about her belly now that I have been scratching all her itchy spots all over her, and she is bored enough to let me do silly stuff with her.

The not so good stuff- she decided she didn't want to be hosed down any more; I probably could if I caught her first, so that's on the agenda. Also she has a bit of  an opinion about leading now.

Well now! Enough of that young missy!

That's where we left off. This will be added to my evening chores. By the way, she wasn't sweating, that was is a bit of spray from the hose when I was filling the water troughs. Sorry not sorry!

Drifter

 Got a Drifter update for us!

He is 3 now, and well loved in his new home. He was recently turned out in a herd of mares to do "clean up" which is a herd of mares bred by their old stallion; if any of them didn't catch it will be his duty to get them covered. 

Such a handsome boy! So happy that he is living his best life. I would not have been able to do this for him. 

Summer routine

 I was looking at the long term forecast for this area, and it seems that the drought will be with us most of this month and next month. My days have settled into a routine- morning and evening chores and hand watering my veggies and flowers either in the morning or evening .

I have a little helper at chore time, but I think she only wants me to scratch her itches. 

I don't mind! 

She brightens up my day. 

I believe that this drought is going to cause a lot of grief over the remainder of the year, with crops failing for both hay and food. I plan to do a lot of preserving and stock up on dry goods. My next purchase will be a vacuum sealer. My sister was telling me I can blanch and dehydrate my beet leaves and spinach and vaccum seal them, which sounds like a good plan . I will also dehydrate some fruit- cherries, rosehips, and berries. Of course lots of canning too. 

Sunday Stills- Red and White (and blue)

 A little cooperation here....

No it's not a plane

would be appreciated!

You are not a bird!

You sure about that?

You are also not a fly swatter or a broom!

Some fancy moves though!

Finally! 

To all you Canucks- belated happy Canada Day and to my American friends, happy Independence Day!

For more Sunday Stills click here

20

 On July 2nd, Mr. Handsome turned 20. I first saw him in September when he was barely 3 months old, and fell in love with him. I picked him up in February of his 2 yr old year, even though he technically wouldn't be 2 until July. He lived at a reining trainer's until he was 4 and I brought him home after his 3rd show and have been enjoying his company ever since. 

I have had a lot of fun riding him over the years, even giving many small (and big!) kids their very first ride on a horse. How many kids can say they had their very first ride on a black stallion? The stuff dreams are made of!

He is retired from riding now, as his arthritis has gone to both knees. His last ride was New Years Eve. (Correction: Looking back on my blog I see I rode him on January 17th.) Side note here- the arthritis began when Belle kicked him in the knee during breeding 10 years ago, it's not from being over used by the trainer or by me. 

His biggest accomplishment wasn't in the show pen, although he did win some money in his very first show- it is in the foals he has sired. I may be biased, but I think he puts exceptional foals on the ground. 

His babies have grown up to be good using horses, winning money, buckles and ribbons in everything from English classes and 4H to roping and barrel racing. He is truly a versatile sire!

Happy birthday, Beamer. I love you right to little horsey bits.