Halter lessons

 We are almost a week into Tuffy's halter lessons. Every morning I bring him and Happy into the little barn, and while she eats, he gets his lesson. The max time is about 5 minutes, I only ask for a little bit every day. I have been working on letting him feel me take the slack out of the lead rope, then wait for him to find out how to give himself slack. He did the usual try to get away, I followed and he thought about it for a while. Some colts get really panicky at this point, but he just kind of stopped by his mama and thought about things. 

Next day, just a bit of give and take with the lead rope to get him used to the feel.

He was pretty good on the left side, but didn't want to switch eyes;  here is what he did if I went on his right side- trying to turn enough to see me out of his left eye:

Yesterday I worked on that right side, and he was ok with me being there. I got some nice soft neck bends on both sides. 

Today I started asking him to move his feet while haltered. I stand by his hip, take the slack out, then use my other hand to gently put some pressure on his hip; when he steps away with his hind feet, it automatically gets him facing me and the result is the pressure on the rope and on his hip go away. Smart boy figured that out pretty quick!

Next up will be getting to figure out that the rope around his hip means the same thing. But that is for another day. Love his "thinking face" in this photo as I let him feel the rope around his hip!

Tomorrow I haul Dally to the stallion, (Belle's son, Scooter). 

Tuff stuff!

 First up, Tuffy now has his registered name. Sire is Jess Too Blue, so I used Jess from him. And dam is DFBit of Sugar Frost, so instead of "a bit" I went with Enuff  and his name is Jess Tuff Enuff!

And he really lives up to his name. Thinks he is tough but is actually rather sweet. 

I make a point of touching him all over every day; each leg, his head, ears and face, even under his belly and play with his tail.

Over the last week, his mama has finally relaxed and let him visit with the other mares without chasing them off, and has stopped protecting him from me. 

Which makes Dally happy, she is in love with him. It is a good thing that she will be bred this year, she should be a great mama next year. 

I started rubbing Tuffy with a rope, tossing it on his back and letting it just fall off. Then switched to the baby halter and lead rope. 

It is a progression; only a minute or two at a time. 

I like to let the rope touch him in all those iffy spots. It got to where I could just toss a rope on him anywhere and he would just look at me as if to say, ok, what next?

So this is what next. 

I tried to slip it over his nose but he decided it needed a taste first. ( Shouldn't have any trouble with a bit eventually!)

After a few days of playing around with rubbing the little halter all over him...

this morning while mama had her feed, I slipped it over his nose a few times. All good, apparently it didn't require a taste test today. 

 

I got it done up loosely at first....

No he doesn't have giant ears, it is just a cell phone photo problem!

And then adjusted it properly and let him just stand there quietly. 

Took a bit of the slack out of the lead rope...

 Then all the slack but not pulling on him. 

Only long enough for him to feel it, then tossed the rope over his back and stood back. 

Good boy, Tuffy!

So this shall be our program going forward, until he learns to give to that little bit of pressure. I am in no hurry and will let him figure things out in his own time. 

What fun to have a colt to work with again!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Dally plans

 Dally got her vet visit, and all is well. She has some body soreness that may require a chiro visit, but the previous injury she came with, the result of a puncture wound on her right hind last fall, was x-rayed and she has been cleared for light riding. 

She was very good for the vet, who also determined that she should be coming in heat in about 10 days. 

The plan is to take her to be bred to Scooter, Coyote Belle's son. That keeps the Beamer/Belle bloodline going; a Beamer daughter to a Belle son. 

Some photos of him from last year:

 

He is another big soggy Belle son and I am pretty excited for this cross!

Dally is also solid and chunky built so this foal should make a rope/ranch/cow event horse. 

Meanwhile, Tuffy and his mama are doing well; he is friendly and comes to visit me but I do have to be mindful of Happy if one of the other mares show too much interest in him. 

Velvet got chomped for daring to say hi....

Happy may be protective around the other horses but she is a sweetheart to handle for humans. 

She is starting to gain weight again. All the horses are together on pasture during the day, and I bring Happy and Tuffy in at night. So far everything is going smoothly. 

A visit and some fancy moves

 Yesterday, I hauled Gussie to Shayla's, where she will be bred to her stallion Absolute Playboy aka Simon

Simon is a very good minded and quiet stallion who has sired several successful show horses both quarter horses and paints. He should be an excellent cross on Gussie. 

While I was there I got to visit the twins, who are both thriving. They are so cute! Their mama was ok with me checking them out. 

The filly has a star and it looks like she will be grey and the colt will stay black.

Hope is the filly, you can see that she is smaller than her brother Cruiser. 

Those eyelashes! 

I also got to visit Louie, her QH colt who is sired by Simon- he is just adorable and super friendly. He will make someone a good show horse. 

Tomorrow I haul Dally for her vet appointment  so I should be able to determine when to haul her in for the rebreed on the stallion Gussie was bred to last year. I haven't had a lot of time to spend with Dally in the last week or so today she will get a good grooming, gotta have her looking good for the vet!

Tuffy and Happy got some turnout in pasture yesterday, I know Happy was pining for some fresh grass so I gave them the afternoon in the middle pasture for a few hours. 

Surprisingly enough, he didn't get too zoomy out there. But he made up for it this morning! We have a weather front coming in so it is a bit colder today. That could be why he was showing off! 

He literally floats across the ground like he is dancing- and then he lights up the after burners and zooms full speed!

The halter training is going slower than normal- every time I try, Happy quietly moves in between me and her boy, as if to say, no, not yet. I will give her a bit more time to be less possessive of him before I get serious about his halter training.

Zoomies

 One of the fun things about a new foal is watching them figure out their legs and their instinct to run. And with all the speed in the genetics of this foal, he was only hours old before he figured out how to lope. He was born tippy toe like Pistol was, so I mixed up my tendon salve and put it on him twice at 2 days old and that fixed the problem. 

Standing on his tippy toes day 1

Today

He has a lot of speed and sometimes it is more than he can handle!

He wiped out twice, no harm done, all part of learning. 

A good slurp and recharged for the next round!

Today he and mama got turned into a bigger pen so she can have some grass along with her hay. Tuffy still has some unfolding to do on his left front so I want to keep them out of the big pasture until he is a bit stronger. I bring them in at night in the foaling pen though to be safe. 

Happy is doing well, she is a very good mama and makes sure he can navigate going in and out of the barn and through the 4 ft. gate. 

First time in the barn yesterday

She looks a bit thin, but is adding weight every day. I am picking up a special ration for her tomorrow for lactating mares who are hard keepers. 

His registration papers and disease panel test, along with the roan test will be sent off in a few days, I will wait until it is done before telling what his registered name will be- don't want it stolen as happened with Belle's first foal. I was going to test for grey, but that is redundant as you can see the grey circle around his eyes already, a sure sign that he will be grey. 

Wishes

 Sometimes you get what you pray for. I prayed for a healthy foal and a safe delivery for Happy and topped it off with daytime foaling. 

Wishes do come true!

Without further ado here we go:

2 feet and a nose, all good

Around 10 minutes of laying there while taking in the new environment

I did have to help pull, this is a big baby! 41 inches at the hip.

Getting all the mama loves

Standing fairly quickly

So handsome!

It is a chestnut colt, probably roan and born at 5:15 today, May 7th. 

His barn name is Tuffy. 

The winner of the foaling contest is Frank, who guessed red colt May 8, that was the closest guess.