Winter pasture

 My handy niece and her partner came out last weekend to help out us old folks get our winter pasture set up. We had to remove the bottom strand of hot tape that had gotten beat up with all the storms and replace it with new tape. All 700 ft. of it. There was a lot of swamp grass grown up over 6 ft. tall along one section that we had to stomp down and drive over to flatten; the weed whacker was not powerful enough to remove it all. We got it done! The horses were happy to get turned out on that 15 acres, as their grazing pens were getting a bit low. Velvet has been on the 15 before, so she led the way through the 4 ft. gate and the others followed. Room to run, you would think, but eating was more important! They did do a bit of zooming the first day and they still have access to their auto waterer and shelter, so when the bugs get to be too much, or if a rain storm comes along, they lope on back to the shelter. 

Tuffy did lose a bit of weight at weaning but it is coming back. 

Took the Nikon out today and tried for some decent photos. 

Normally I would edit a bit, but my old computer is having a moment and won't let me so these are straight out of the camera. 

Velvet, who was first out, went off to the far end, (can you see her?) while Tuffy and Dally stayed closer to the entrance. 

Those weeds are Canada Thistle and stinging nettle, both of which horses will eat in moderation. We have plans to spray this field next spring. 

Dally wandered off to see what Velvet was eating, and Tuffy stayed munching on his patch. 

He was keeping an eye on them, but when they went out of sight, he galloped up to the corner, whinnying and they came a-running at his call.... good mares!

This will be their winter pasture, at least until the snow starts covering the hotwire tape which is about 2 ft. off the ground for the bottom strand. 

Once the Leo colt gets here in a few days, he will be penned up with Tuffy so they can buddy up and be friends before I turn them out together to pasture with the mares. Can't wait!

Wild things and flowers

 I enjoy sitting in the gazebo in the afternoon and watching all the birds that fly along the river; the osprey diving for fish and the cedar waxwings catching bugs as they swoop down from the surrounding trees. There is a stump near the gazebo and every time I sit there the little house wren comes for a visit. 

It is the cutest tiny bird!  

     

Robin (I assume juvenile) with a white tipped tail. Sorry about the crappy photo; taken at a distance in a hurry from my cell phone. 

Then there is this fellow, pretty sure he is the same one I have seen for the last couple years. 

Other than wildlife, there are flowers happening here, finally. 

Cosmos and calendula that self seeded for the last 2  years

This is a tiny flower with foliage that is similar to maiden hair fern

Snapdragons

Portulaca

We had some dramatic clouds last weekend. 

Love it when there are fingers of light poking through holes in the floor of heaven. 

And of course, one must include horses! Dally has literally no forelock left. 

Who needs a forelock, anyway?

Dally update

 Today was Dally's ultrasound to see if she is in foal. 

That look in her eye... just like Beamer

And yes that is a confirmed pregnancy ! Now, I have no idea how to interpret an ultrasound but I sure would like to learn.

I got another photo of the Leo colt sent to me

He sure is put together nice. I am still struggling to find a registered name for him. I will be going to see him by the end of the month, so hopefully one of the names I am mulling over will stand out for me when I see him next. 

Mission accomplished

 Yesterday, while his mama had her ration out in the pen instead of in the barn, Tuffy decided to stay in the barn. So I caught him in there and asked him for a few steps each direction. He was a bit uncertain because he couldn't see his mama, but trusted me enough that he complied.  I only gave it about a minute, that was enough. 

Today, I closed up the barn and while the mares had their breakfast, I walked up to Tuffy and caught him. 

No problem!

Leading was also no problem. 

Tuffy will be a month old on Monday. We will continue daily catching and short walks and start introducing him to thing that make him aware of where his feet are, like poles, and soon a tarp and the pallet platform.

Good boy, Tuffy! 

I am a good boy!

The rain has stopped; we got 3 and an eighth inches in a day and a half. Much needed! Some areas in southern Alberta got over 8 inches in that time frame. 

In other news, Dally came in heat and they started breeding her yesterday, June 2nd.  She should be ready to come home middle of next week. 

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). 

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.

Being patient

 Happy is still hanging in there so if your guess date has passed, feel free to comment an update on this post.

Her belly is finally v'ing up, should be soon!

Happy looks a bit thin, I reckon because she is putting everything into her foal. She is on feed 24/7 and gets a supplement every morning. 

This is Jess Too Blue,  the sire of the foal

I think the baby will be gorgeous! It should have both speed and trainability.

This stallion's pedigree has top names in the running bred quarter horses as well as going back to a couple of very famous Triple Crown winners : Seattle Slew and the mighty Secretariat. 

I have a couple of cute names picked out which I will tell after the foal is born. 

Dally has settled in well, she is now out with the old girls on pasture. She is the kind that follows me around just like Velvet does, and she is easy to be around, loves brushing and oh my she has a long thick tail that goes to the ground. 

However, she has Beamer's thin mane, darn. 

I have a spy cam on my foaling pen so this year I don't have to sleep in the barn. I have solar lights set up that have a motion sensor on them, they get bright when she walks past them and dimmer when all is still. It helps me be able to see her at night without even getting out of bed! If I see no movement and she is not visible I can shine my flashlight from the mud room in the house and see what she is up to. No more sleeping in the barn- yay!

This is the view from my camera, it does have night vision, and I can zoom right in from my phone. Very handy! But I still wake up every hour or so to check. It is hard to be patient!

One of my own

 Ted and I are coming up on our 30th anniversary next month; and my sweetheart bought me a diamond...

That is ,  DLH Peppys Diamond! That is the only kind of diamond this old lady needs!

Dally made it here just before midnight after over 10 hours journey. I put her in a pen between Happy and the other mares so she would have company overnight. This morning I had a good visit with her and marvelled at how much she is like Beamer  

She has his jaw

and his booty

Apparently she is red mare approved 

She hasn't had any grass yet, as she came from northern BC where their snow just melted. We have grass coming in but not much yet. I moved her to Beamers pen which has just enough grass to keep her busy but not enough to get her laminitic . 

It did my heart good to see a Beamer daughter in his old pen. 

I have her booked in for an ultrasound on May 15 as the plan is to use her for my rebreed to the stallion Gussie was bred to. BC Always Leo, aka Leo. 

Finally, my own Beamer daughter back in my herd. Welcome home, Dally.

Looky here!

 Well I have some exciting news.... drum roll...

Anyone recognize this lovely face?

How about now?

Yes that is the lovely Dally! Aka DLH Peppys Diamond.

I had the opportunity to buy her, thanks to help from my husband, and she will be coming here sometime in May. I am over the moon to finally own my Beamer daughter again! And the bonus is, she is out of Jayne. The folks who own her are downsizing their program, and gave Shayla or I first chance to buy her. Neither of us thought it would happen  but I made it work when the timing was right . 

I looked back on my blog and here are some of my favorite baby photos of her:

With her mama, Jayne

Airborne!

That diamond inspired her name as well as the mare Diamonds Sparkle in her pedigree

I just can't wait to bring her home!