In the misty moonlight....
I found out today that the day for picking up Sophie in Alberta is November 12th. I sure hope the weather holds out, it's no fun hauling a horse over snowy roads. If it looks too sketchy for me, I may hire a pro hauler I know who is no stranger to hauling in bad weather.
If it isn't too bad though, I will haul her myself. That gives me the chance to visit a friend who I haven't seen for about 15 years, as well as a chance to buy some jeans- can't buy my size anywhere within a 4 hour drive and I don't buy online as I have to try them on. I guess most folks think wimmens legs don't grow past 32 or 34 inches!
The other info about Sophie- and I did know this before I bought her, is that she was pasture bred to a stallion, she could foal out in June or July. Hopefully early June as that will put her close to Jayne's due date, and it will be so fun to have 2 foals next year! And no, I won't be breeding her back to Beamer as she is meant to be my riding mare.
Sophie's pedigree: https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/ruf+sanation
This is who she was bred to: https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/jae+bars+chrome
His sire is a horse that Shayla rode when she worked for the cutting trainer.
Very strong pedigree to King, Doc Bar, Leo and Sugar Bars- all horses I admire. She should be athletic and cowy!
She had a professional start (90 days) and then was used for moving cows and hunting in the mountains; pretty much what I will be doing with her.
And I can't wait to get her!
Been a wet week here so didn't get a lot done. But I found a saddle to look at not too far from here. I had sold my Wade saddle a couple of weeks ago and was on the lookout for an affordable, good quality used saddle.
What I found was another custom built saddle, made by Mark Denny of Cariboo Saddlery at Williams Lake B.C. It's very well built and good thick leather. A bit heavy but that is ok. It is the kind of saddle that will last a lifetime, probably out last me by many years! The lady who sold it no longer rides and has health issues. Kind of sad....
To get there we had to go over a mountain pass, and what was rain here was snow up there.
My first snow of the season! The roads weren't too bad, a little slippery going up the hill but ok going down.
The saddle was pretty much what I expected (you know I love custom built saddles!) so I bought it, and she threw in a whole bunch of used tack, nothing much that I wanted or needed so I will sell it via Ted's Facebook.
When we got home I checked it out more thoroughly; it needs the stirrups turned and a new latigo strap but other than that its good to go. I put it on Beamer for a trial fit.
I am also going to change out the stirrups with the ones on my broken saddle, these have that galvanized wrap that I don't like. It did come with a back cinch which I have to put back on.
Can't wait to get Sophie home and start riding again! And no, I didn't ride Beamer.
I have been AWOL from blogs lately... my horse search has consumed most of my online time. It's exhausting. I posted a couple of times using Ted's Facebook account.... crickets. I had one reply, which wasn't a suitable mount.
So many people post that they have a quarter horse for sale, and then go on to say that they have lost the papers (how can so many people lose such an important document?) or say that the horse can be registered but then don't have all the paperwork to actually do the registering. So to me, there is no proof that the horse is what they say it is. And if you post that you want a mare, you get links to geldings.... (eyeroll.... there is no gender fluidity in horses!!!)
Eventually I put up a post that said, lets start a post for REGISTERED quarter horse MARES and got a ton of response!
I looked through all the ads, contacted several of the owners, but they were all near misses. Some were broke as a 2 yr old and not ridden since., some were cold backed (but only on the ground, not when ridden!.... uh huh....), one was in foal to a paint stallion (nothing against paints, just not what I personally want) and the majority of them were at least 2 grand above my budget.
Timing is everything, not just in horse training - also in horse shopping. I realised I would have to buy sight unseen, but I am ok with that, I have done it several times. I was checking a page for the forty-eleventh time and a new ad caught my eye.
Oh by the way, did I mention how beautiful the fall colours are here this year? Even on a rainy morning.
There are still a few flowers hanging in there, mostly the ones which are protected from the heavy frosts by other plants or the proximity of the house.
The fall asters are so hardy they survive frost without any extra protection. Those lavender seeds are needing to be harvested too.
The blue salvia against the house survived, although some of the same plant got too much frost and succumbed. I have saved seeds for next year.
The day after Dally left, Jayne was moping. She wouldn't come greet me like she normally does, just stood off in a corner of her pen. So instead of waiting, I figured a sure way to get her over it was to put Beamer in with her. I stuck him in the adjacent (foaling) pen for a few hours, and since there was no drama, just turned him in with her.
They are both happy to have company.
He yelled at her a few times in his best Big Studly voice, but Jayne just ignored him. He is very respectful of her. One flick of an ear or swish of the tail and he backs off.
I was curious to see how they would do when it was time for their grain.
This time it was Beamer who gave the "back off" signals, just little vocals. I ended up moving the pan out of the stall so Jayne didn't feel trapped. She did get her fair share. I will try that for a few days and if she isn't getting enough I will feed them separately.
They seem to be happy enough to eat their hay together.
I love old horses, they are so uncomplicated; at least these two are.
Y'all knew I'd find a way to do a bug's eye view of a horse didn't you? Beamer made a good model! I did have to get right down to the ground for this one.
And what a beautiful day!
Fall is here in all its splendor, and thankfully we haven't had the usual wind (yet) that knocks all the pretty leaves off the trees.
Yesterday I made Dally a new halter for her new owners.
Dally's new owners came today to pick her up. I turned Beamer out in the pen that borders Dally's pen, and they had a nice little final visit.
They are very adept at not touching those wires after getting zapped the other day.
After an 11 hour drive, they arrived; I caught Dally and handed the lead rope to Stacey, her new person. I was super pleased to see how Dally responded to her. You see, the first two people who came to check her out, Dally wasn't too impressed with, so I was glad they decided to pass on her. But with Stacey, Dally was very chill, relaxed and perfectly behaved. I showed off a few of the things I have done such as the rake scratch and spraying her with fly spray, as well as how well she backs up when you stop leading her and step back.
I love it when there is a connection. Dally genuinely seemed at ease with Stacey, and Stacey's smile says it all.
When it was time to leave, I wasn't sure if Dally would step up into their big trailer- it is about 20 inches off the ground, compared to the small step up on my little 2 horse.
But the li'l darlin' curled up her front legs and hopped right in on the first ask! Good girl Dally!
For the trip back they plan to overnight at some friends about halfway back, and take lots of breaks to check on Dally.
Dally will be living a little west of Williams Lake, B.C. She will have plenty of company as they own 8 horses including a couple of other young horses. I think it will be a very good home for her. One of the things they are thinking for a career for her is breakaway roping, which is just what I was thinking for her too.
As they were leaving, Jayne could hear Dally whinnying in the trailer and she started calling to her.
Poor mama! She called for a while before settling down.
In a couple of days I will try having Beamer in with her again; it worked well last time so I am hoping they will get along well again. It will make my work a lot easier too!
We have been busy getting our winter wood supply in. We only have wood heat, so we need at least 5 to 6 cords to get through the winter.
It's getting closer.... there has been snow in the high mountain passes here in BC as well as snow storms on the eastern slopes of the Rockies, (Alberta). I think we are in for a long and snowy winter.
We are preparing for all the shortages there will be due to the supply chain problems going on worldwide. Living a simple life has it's advantages, we don't need a lot to survive and be happy.
I put Dally back on the market and have a pending sale for her.
I am still keeping up her training, doing refreshers with trailer loading and carrying the tarp, plus I started working her with the flag.
The flag work went really well, no surprise there as the tarp work sets up acceptance for strange things touching her.
She was a little more concerned about the flag on her right side. I thought she did well for her first intro to it. She is such a delight to work with!
I will keep you posted about where she is going once all the details are finalized. The good thing is that I can now go horse shopping (again!!!) for a Good Horse to Ride.
Cats.... What can I say about my 2 cats...
Thumper is 11 and Foose is 12. Since they realised we no longer have dogs in the house, they imperceptibly managed to stop being barn cats and become house cats. At least, they thought they were being sneaky about it, but they were aided and abetted by Ted offering them a saucer of milk every time they came to the house. (We miss the dogs, for Ted it's Merle in particular.)
So before you know it, they have taken over the house. And they are slothballs. They sleep all the time!
In case you missed that.....
Thumper usually lays on the loveseat with me and if I get up he moves to my spot. Guess he wants to keep it warm for me- thoughtful kitty 😁
Foose is more of a loner, he usually spends his time snoozing on the top of Ted's dresser (mine is too cluttered!)
This is his usual position....
But sometimes he finds a spot on our bed and really relaxes.....
Note that he only bothered to open one eye to see Why I Was Disturbing Him! And that he brought some of the outside in stuck to his fancy pants.
I love my kitties!
My sister has a very handsome cat called Rodrigo.
He reminds me of Kitty Pearl.
We are 16 days into weaning now. I am remembering why I don't like to wean one foal and only have the mother and sire on site! It is tough to visually separate Jayne and Dally. If Dally goes in the trailer and I close the door while she eats her grain, Jayne hollers and carries on which gets Dally all wired up. But despite that trailer loading/unloading is no problem at all now, so I will likely just put that on hold for a while.
Standing tied at the hitching rail is going well. I still haven't tied her solid, but she isn't pulling. She does get a little impatient and paws a bit, which is normal.
She is maintaining good weight during weaning. She gets 5 cups of barley/oats mix with an ounce of camelina oil. I used to feed those formulated feeds but I find they do just as well on plain grain. And it's much less expensive.
After all the lessons she gets a little hand grazing.
She hasn't had a lot of grass this year; it all burned off in the pastures and is finally growing again. Beamer's turnout pen is doing well, and he's happy when he gets to go out.
He's really starting to show his age. I need to get his teeth done this fall and may need to start him on an alfalfa mix hay to keep his weight up this winter.
The eyes of a horse can tell you so much... about their basic temperament, their mood, their level of pain, even their age. Beamer is showing his age now as you can see above his eye.
I have always wanted to do a drawing of a horse's eye, and also wanted to try colored pencils- so I did this one of Rio based on a photo I took years ago. I have a lot to learn about this media, so I am going to try an online tutorial.
