Why horses

 As I lay awake in the middle of the night, I got to thinking about the history of people and horses. How through the centuries, they have been there for us and how throughout history so much has been achieved because of them. 

Then, on a personal level, how is it that our lives have become intertwined with those magnificent creatures? Why horses? For me, or for you? Why have they been the constant, the anchor that steadies me/us?

For me it started when I was 4 years old and my dad needed to borrow a horse to help drag logs. He took little me with him and made a deal with a local farmer to borrow his big black draft horse.  That was the first horse I saw. She was black and her name was Star.  Then a short time later he again went to borrow a horse to haul logs, and this time the farmer sent his daughter to catch the horse and bring it in; this time I walked behind as the girl rode the big black horse (probably Percheron) and I remember thinking, " that should be me up there". 

So began my lifelong fascination with these amazing creatures.  I will never forget the first ride I had, being led on a chestnut Thoroughbred mare, the wonderful horse smell and that first moment when she walked along.  Those are the moments that stayed with me through all those years until I eventually owned my first very own horse. (Ironically, a black mare)

It may also explain why I gravitate to black horses. 

He gave the best kisses! 

How is it that there is such a connection between horses and humans? It seems to me that it is part if the Divine Design. We are there for them as much as they are there for us. There is an undeniable current that connects us, if we let it. 

When I walk into my little herd, I feel at peace in my soul. Troubles and cares are put on the back burner. 

My best boy

And I think, for me, that is the answer to my "Why horses".  They are the single thing, other than nature itself, that gives that peace to my soul. They are something tangible and present, something I can feel, touch, share adventures with, teach, share, and find joy in. And it makes all the ugliness of the world fade away in their presence. 

I thank God for the horses. 

Adios 2024

I have to say, this was not my best year. The best thing that happened, though, made up for a lot of it, and that was Theo. He was such a joy and a delight to work with, and he couldn't have gone to a better home. 

The loss of Beamer and Belle was topped off with the loss of Jayne, who was laid to rest for the same reason as Beamer and Belle- crippling arthritis and inability to maintain her body weight. Shiner was Jayne's last foal, and he went to a very good home. The lady who owns him is the one who started his brother Boe under saddle, and she was so delighted with him that she decided to buy Shiner for herself. Jayne was such a sweet mare, and she passed her personality on to her foals- although Shiner got a bit more pizazz from his sire, Shayla's stallion Rex (Majors Pistol). 

As most of you know, I got sick at the end of September with pneumonia , and it took me pretty much 3 months to get over it. I still am not back at full strength, but every week I am better. So autumn was pretty much a write off for me; not much activity for most of it although recently I managed a couple of short rides on Gussie. 

Gussie is such an expressive mare, she leaves no doubt as to what she is thinking. When she sees me coming with the bridle she gives me that disapproving look ; the lady does not like cold steel in her mouth in the winter, thank you very much! So I have been using the bosal on her, and she goes well in it. I will probably buy a nice light one for her, as she is so broke she doesn't need much, and the one I have  was meant for starting colts. 

The girls are wintering well! 

Theo's owner posted a photo of him on Fb with his pasture mate, a Warmblood filly. 

She is younger than him, but she will be a whole lot bigger! He is looking good. It's nice to get updates on him- his people love him. 

The loss of Beamer was huge for me this year. I knew it was coming, and it took me a year or more to finally make the call on him. He went downhill so  rapidly though from May to August that I knew it was finally time. Today when I was doing chores and went into his empty barn to get some salt for the mares, I could almost hear the echo of his whinny that he would give if he was there to see the mares come running over as I went in the barn. I miss his bright eyes and handsome face, peering out from his barn door, and his glossy self following me along the fenceline as I brought his feed out. I guess I am feeling a bit empty today, and I will be glad to welcome a new year, hopefully with less sadness. 

A card

 My sister Margi, who visited here to pick up her kittens (the kittens are living their best life now!) got to meet Beamer . When he passed, she very kindly did a little painting of him from the last photo I took of him, and made it into a card and sent it to me. 

How beautiful and thoughtful is that! The painting reminds me of Beamer as a young horse, although it also combines elements of him as an aged horse. It looks like he is emerging from darkness into the light of eternity, just as we do when our time comes. 

Thank you, Margi 💙

A thank you, and moving on.

 My heartfelt thanks to everyone who left comments on the passing of Beamer. It means a lot to me that you all loved and admired him too. He was an exceptional horse in looks and temperament as well as in personality. 

Moving on to this new phase in my life is not easy; as is to be expected. I have been filling my time in working with Theo. He is such a delight to work with, and he gives me as much joy as Beamer did- probably because he is so much like his sire. We had a really special moment this morning; I went to the barn to feed the cats, the mares and Theo were out in the pasture. Theo spotted me and came strolling into the barn to see what I was up to, and the mares paid no attention to him leaving them. We had a nice quiet moment together, I brushed him and bent over to scrape the bot eggs off his legs. He laid his neck over me and gave me what  seemed like a horse hug. Not trying to nibble or investigate, just a quiet moment of peace that filled my heart. 

After a bit I went to the house to get my phone for photos on this beautiful sunny day (we had an inch of rain over the last 24 hours) and he hung out at the barn until I came back. I haltered him and led him to the trailer for his daily loading lesson, and he spotted a couple of deer on the front lawn and paused to look at them. He wasn't alarmed or spooking, just stood quietly looking at them for a while before getting into the trailer for his morning bit of feed. 

Trailer training went really well over the last week. The first day, it went like this:

Theo: You want me to WHAT?

Me: Come and get your ration. Yumm!

Theo: Well... maybe. 

He had a few bites of ration, then I called it and tried again in the afternoon. 

Theo: You been holding out on me! Haven't had this for a while!

That evening went much quicker. Right to the door and started munching. 

Doesn't he just look like Beamer here.....

3rd session: Next day we got one foot loaded. And then two. 

 

Theo: I think I got this now

4th session: Me: Good boy, Theo! 

Theo: I am a good boy!

And that's all folks! After that Theo loaded every time without hesitation. Not only that, he willingly backed out right from the first time I asked him. I have yet to close him in the trailer, but that will have to wait for his person to teach. He will be here tomorrow to meet Theo, not sure if he is hauling Theo himself this weekend or if he has a professional hauler coming in a few days. 

I have a little update on a dog I had, remember Thea? She was so intensely wanting to work that I sold her back to her original breeders and now she has a job at the sheep trials that they attend; she sets and holds the flock along with her owner on horseback as they await each contestant. Best thing I ever did for that dog was letting her go. 

Sunday Silence

 

End of an Era

Era: A period of time characterized by particular circumstances, events, or personages.

The passing of Beamer is definitely the end of an era for me.  

(He would like being called a personage 😊)

Here is a little of his back story, for those of you who have only known him for a short while. 

When I lived in southern BC, there was a ranch across the border, in Eureka Montana, who had a line of horses that I greatly admired. Their sire (Peppy A Poco) was a direct son of Mr. San Peppy and they bought him from the King Ranch yearly production sale in Texas. He was shown in cutting and a snaffle bit futurity before retiring to be a herd sire for the Shea Ranch. When I lost my first stallion, Pocos Last Chip, to West Nile, I decided to see what the Shea's had for a stallion prospect. Once I saw 3 month old Beamer, I was smitten and contracted to buy him. It wasn't until he was 18 months old that I picked him up, and hauled him to trainer Kim Smith in the Ft. McLeod, Alberta, area as I didn't have a place to keep a stallion at that point. 

Kim kept him on board until he was old enough to start under saddle. He showed Beamer as a 3 year old in a big reining class in Cardston, where he earned some money for a 7th place finish out of 29 horses. After that, he was shown the next year twice as a 4 year old; a spring show and a summer show. Both times, just before the show, Beamer's sliding stops were so powerful that he clipped his front feet, dislodging a front shoe. Beamer was quite short coupled so that had a lot to do with it. Since that seemed to be an issue, I took him out of show training and brought him home to enjoy riding him and to start raising foals from him. 

4 year old Beamer

Most of you know the wonderful foals I raised from my own mares. He also sired 2 paint foals and a filly for Kim Smith, as well as a colt for a friend which unfortunately died young. 

Beamer was a ham. He loved to show off, doing one foot pirouettes, rearing on command, giving the best ever horse kisses, and always yawning!

Breeding was always in hand, and he was easy to handle. He had a very loud roar that got the mare's attention and he was never mean to them. 

Visiting Moondance

Owning Beamer dictated a lot of my life choices over the last twenty years. It meant travelling for more than a day or two was out of the question, as spring and summer were busy times with breeding and foaling as well as training the foals. Now that he's gone, I find myself at a bit of a loss for direction, especially since Theo will be gone in a week. Gussie will have to take up the slack- I am getting her back in riding shape. 

Here are a few photos from my archives, some special moments. 

I sure miss him. 

The boys

 Got my big girl camera out and took some photos at turnout time. First up is daddy, Mr. Handsome himself. 

Staring at his mares before he wanders off to graze

He is showing his age now but he is still the handsomest. 

Theo decided to perform for me this morning, much to my delight! 

I even got a few of him rolling. Nothin' like a good back scratch first thing in the morning!

Then get up and show off your power take-off!

Theo is eating grass now as well as his mama's grain, and he's drinking water. 

He has little toofers now

Theo and Velvet are about ready for full time turnout now, once I get my pasture management all done. The next step is to get Theo to figure out what electric fence is all about. 

Lionized

 Well. 

March marched in like a roaring lion! The last 2 days of February and continuing on for the next 3 days, here is a little photo essay. 

Haha he makes me laugh, coming in for his feed all tough looking! Whatsa matter Beamer, tired of the snow after only 3 days?  Hang in there buddy, it ain't over yet!

We have had a bit of a north wind that brought this system in, so it was kind of nasty for doing chores, but I bundled up in my insulated coveralls, down coat and fuzzy hat.

Said fuzzy hat post chores today

Needless to say, the next few days will be pretty low key. How is March coming in where you are?  I am slightly jealous of the daffodils posted by 4 R Ranch blog!

Going with the flow

 Today was supposed to be a riding day- such a beauty of a day, even though it started out with heavy fog- for miles, apparently. 

Beamer was up watching for me to come do morning chores

You know what they say about fog- wait 90 days and there will be rain (or snow depending on the season) so that of course, puts us right at the May long weekend.... go figure. 

Anyway, this afternoon I brought Gussie out and saddled her. There was something going on with her, as I tightened the cinch she sort of went down a bit, possible ulcers?  Anyway, she was a bit on edge so I opted for ground work instead. She wasn't too focused; she's easy to read and when she gets anxious like that, riding would be counter productive until we get calm and willing instead. So I free longed her to get that emotion dissipated , then worked on drifting her hind end over with a cross over of the inside hind in front of the outside hind. She had trouble with doing that with the left hind, which was related to stiffness through her body on her left side. Once we got it with a bit of softness, I decided to see if a bit of Masterson Method on her neck would help. I didn't do the whole progression, just the neck. 

She tends to hold her head up and her neck inverted, so I want to work on her stretching her topline down and lifting her back, relaxing through her body from nose to tail. This may take a while! 

Anyway, working on her neck brought many releases, and we finished the day on a good note.

 

Tomorrow I'm going to see Shayla and get some photos of her sale horses- the paint yearling  and a quarter horse mare. 

So I will leave you with some Velvet pics!

Hi pretty girl!

Only 7 weeks to go before she is due . 

This morning's foggy belly pic.

I'm getting quite excited for this foal! And yes, we will have a foaling contest. 

Beauty full

 Painted by the Master's Hand. 

One of my favourite things is to watch the sunrise skies. These wide open spaces allow for some spectacular and awe inspiring views as the colours slowly appear, come to their full glory in the east and glow in the west. I am blessed to live here; our last place had such a small section of sky that we rarely got the full morning glory. But we did have those amazing mountains! There is always beauty wherever we are. 

Smudge and Misty remind me that not all beauty is in the skies! They took full advantage of the straw bedding I put out for the mares. 

Yes, I get an eyeful of beauty every day!