I don't have any new photos of Derby, but this one is one of my favourites.
Derby has been sold! He will go to Step In Time Performance Horses in Neilburg Saskatchewan. He will stay with Shayla until weaning time and then go to his new owner in September. He will be raised up as a stallion prospect for them- this is the third son of Belle slated to be used as a stallion, the other two being Moondance and a bay colt sired by a full brother to Playgun that was born in Alberta when she was owned by Fleetwood Farms for a few years before I bought her back.
I am super proud of Belle for the quality of foals that she consistently puts on the ground. We are waiting for confirmation by ultrasound of her next foal, who is sired by Root Beers Boots. Should have the results in a few days.
Gussie will be headed to the same Stallion Station where Belle is, to be flushed and then bred to A Classic Guy
Both those links have videos of the stallion at the bottom of the page, they are worth watching.
Not to be left out of mention- I am also super proud of Beamer for consistently throwing gorgeous babies! Update on Eli- Last year I had a local farrier come and trim Moondance, and he loved him. Well, my friend who bought Eli decided that he was too darn big for her and sold him to that farrier. This guy is the one who I used as a farrier from the time I moved here 12 years ago until I started trimming my own horses, and he is familiar with Beamer and my mares, so I was pretty happy that a guy who sees hundreds of horses thought enough of my horses to want to own one.
Midnight Tumbleweed turned 2 yesterday- isn't he beautiful! A beautiful lady and her beautiful horse- doesn't get any better than that. You can visit her blog to follow his journey and Linda's excellent writing.
And here is DLH Elijah Peppy, who will be 1 on the 19th:
I do love those smoky blacks, and it won't break my heart if Moondance is a smoky black instead of a true black like his daddy.
I guess I shouldn't complain so much about Beamer throwing so many colts when they look like this!
Just to refresh your memory- here are the other boys, who are living in Alberta:
Diamond Rio Peppy, at 3 years old (Rio)
Midnight Coyote (Kai)
Shining Midnite Moon (Nitro)
Beamer is also the sire of 2 paint colts, full brothers. I only have their baby photos; they are full grown now.
Here is a link to another blog. Flattop horsemanship This is Marty Gardner, and he's the one that Melanie who now owns Eli, will be learning from.
Speaking of Eli, Mel sent me this video- look how great he looks! Showing off his speed and his Beamer moves.
Today was the day for Eli's departure. Mel and her husband arrived early and after doing the paperwork over a cuppa coffee, we headed to the barnyard .
I made Eli a new halter as he had nearly outgrown his. It's always nice to send them off with a new one!
His mane was all over the place!
He loaded up well, and Mel said he travelled well too.
I'll be sure to post updates on him as I get them! He will be living in a large paddock with an elderly gelding for company for the winter, with plenty of other horses across the fence from him.
The 2 colts are sharing a bucket of foal ration now... finally got Booncat eating it. I hung a bucket on the fence and of course he just had to see what his big bro was eating, so that solved that problem!
That style of bucket is perfect for sharing. Booncat is actually doing well with the weaning process. He hasn't lost any weight and he isn't stressed out at all. All the horses were dewormed after the last full moon and I didn't see any worms expelled so it looks like my pasture management program is working. It helps that we didn't have any bot flies this year.
Eli will be leaving within a few days so Belle will get to go back in the herd and will be there as company for Booncat when I take Gussie out to ride. I have decided to leave Drifter in his separate pen until February to avoid any risk of a late heat with Gussie. I haven't yet decided if Booncat will live with him.
I turned Belle and Gussie out in the hotwire pen the other day- happy mares to be reunited and have room to zoom!
Does my heart good to see them enjoying each other's company. Having a happy herd is so important to me. Look at all the horses I have sold because they didn't have the right attitude- Poco, Delia, Coulee, Loretta, Sparkle and some yearlings back in the day when I bought weanlings and sold them as long yearlings. Even Rosalee- she was lovely in the herd but didn't have the right attitude under saddle to suit me. The only one I sold that was a nice mare was Clancy- but she wasn't athletic enough for me. (Which is odd to say about a High Brow Cat granddaughter!)
Drifter is making progress, I can now tie him to the trailer and saddle him up. He has had a couple of moments though, I call them learning curves. I was grooming him and something startled him- maybe a cat jumping out of the tack room, I'm not sure- and he pulled back hard. I stepped behind him and hollered and made noise and he stood up. So the lesson that day was all about standing tied, and of course he didn't try it again. I think he is a little reactive because of being in with the mares and having to skeddadle when they get after him for being too pesky.
His next learning moment was when I took him into the round pen saddled up, the first time I had saddled him at the trailer and then led him to the round pen as opposed to saddling him in the pen. He dropped his head to graze and I got after him and he jumped, realized that he had a saddle on and bucked about 4 jumps until he got to the fence and then just stood there, thinking about it. After that he was good as gold and we even got his first lope saddled up. Not even a hint of a buck after that. I really think he's the kind of horse that processes things like that and learns from them.
I am quite pleased with him! He is a sensible horse and so far deserving of being kept a stallion.
We have a local cattle sorting series and I finally decided to go. The person who brings the cattle and organizes it is the guy who has Tillie and I promised him I would go- so yesterday I loaded up Gussie and off we went.
This is a really good bunch of people- there were 24 horses and their people there, everything from ponies to Tennessee Walkers, Rocky Mountain horses and of course a plethora of Quarter horses. Everyone cheered everyone else on and it was a lot of fun.
Because I had never worked cattle with Gussie I wasn't sure how she would do. I know she was used to cows having lived right next to them at our last residence and I think she was exposed to working them with her last owner. However, she was a rock star!
We got 3 practice runs and 3 jackpot runs. There was a lunch break with potluck (I didn't know so next time I will bring something!) Yes there will be a next time, every 2 weeks . Gussie loved it and was so well behaved both standing around waiting our turn and in the sorting pen. I also got lots of compliments on the way she moves. She does carry herself well!
The boys are all getting more work these days. Dave came over and held Booncat and I did get all 4 feet filed. He was not too bad, which made me happy. I will have to do him again in a few weeks, I didn't take a lot off; just enough to reduce his heels and shorten his toe and balance him. Doesn't take much with those baby feet! Eli was easy, I just tied him to the hitching rail and filed his back feet.
I have been trying to get Booncat eating ration, but he is pretty uninterested. I tried soaking the alfalfa pellets and he takes a few slurps and loses interest. He's a funny boy, he likes things to be his idea. So I guess I will just have to be patient, he'll come around eventually but I bet it won't be until after his mama leaves.
Belle looked like she was dropping condition so I decided that Eli's 5 month birthday was the day to wean him. It's going well, they are across the fence from each other; I put Belle in the foaling pen and closed Drifter in the adjoining paddock. There is some whinnying but no stress to either mama or Eli.
Gussie is taking over babysitting duties
Drifter is getting some more education now too. I took him to the round pen and got him saddled and cinched up. Poor boy was getting eaten up by mosquitoes as I was working him, but despite that he was really good. Didn't mind at all being cinched up. I did a little bit of in hand circles, direction changes and flexing then had him carry the saddle back up the hill to the horse trailer. He was so good!
He stood well for unsaddling- note that he isn't tied, just for safety in case he had a moment when I unsaddled. But he just stood there like a good boy. I will probably just work him in his pen instead of the round pen, being barren ground there are less skeeters there.
I have had Booncat out every day, he is leading really well now and happily goes in and out of the trailer and the barn. He is such a curious boy!
He likes the cats....
and they tolerate his inquisitiveness. When he goes in the barn he has to check everything out....
he even went in the Hideout and checked out the table and chair. He is still not too sure about Beamer, but at least he didn't run away this time.
Beamer was being so cute and gentle!
Today was hay hauling day, it feels great to have all that hay in the barn! And I still have 8 more bales to pick up but I have to feed enough of these ones to make room for it. No more storing hay outside for me! My hay guy is storing it for me in his hay barn until I can pick it up.
As Eli's departure date comes closer, I have to say I am really happy with him. I can now hop him in the trailer and close the door while he eats his ration, and he is very good about it. He eats a bit then looks out the window openings to check on the herd and goes back to eating. He is standing tied very well, and picks up his feet easily- I do still need to file his back feet, but need someone to hold him for me, perhaps later this week. He is easy to catch and lead. He also doesn't mind fly spray.
Booncat is also making progress. He's easy to catch and is leading fairly well. I haven't tried standing tied with him yet, but that will come. Some of his training will wait until weaning time in October. I have been loading him in the trailer and taking him into the barn, so perhaps I will use the stall in the barn for teaching him to stand tied and get him eating ration, which so far he has no interest in. Doing his feet is in the works for later this week too, as my friend Dave will be coming over to hold colts for me. Dave is 80 now, but you'd never know it. He is an old horseman and very good with the young ones.
My riding this year has really been sporadic. Partly because my trailer needs tires, but that should be remedied by the end of the month. Gussie is enjoying the time off!
We have mosquitoes now, for the first time this year. The recent wet weather is to blame for that, I'm sure! Poor Drifter got hit the worst, the skeeters must love his colour.
Yesterday was the first time for firing up the wood stove, it was just too darn damp and cold (74 degrees) in the house for me. I do so enjoy a good fire on a dreary day!
My flower gardens are hanging in there. The roses are on their final blooms as I am letting them develop their rose hips. Everything else is still happy though especially the zinnias and blue salvia.
Tillie is getting very independent and active (read: into everything!) She comes to the barn with me every day, but I have to carry her past the neighbour's fence as their dog has a very loud scary bark that sends her hiding. I put her in the barn while I do chores and she is so good, sits near the back of the barn and just watches.
She is mostly house broke too, as long as I pay attention to getting her outside when she first wakes up. Her favourite way to pester her mama is to hang on to her tail as mama walks by and I sure hope that does not translate into horses tails!
She will be 6 weeks old September 20th. She is very smart and already shows that she wants to work... poor Merle.... he's the only one small enough for her to work! She does leave the cats alone which is a good thing.
Even when things don't go the way I want, there is lots to keep me busy and happy.
It has been a pretty low key week for me. I did get in another ride last week with a friend, just riding the river trails, and had plans for a couple of rides this week.... but that went downhill last Thursday. I was trimming Sassy's front feet and she wasn't too happy about it. I had her just ground tied and her foot on the hoof stand in front of her filing her toe and she sunk down and pulled back at the same time, hooking her leg around mine behind my knee and sent me flying. Needless to say I am pretty sore, fortunately just a soft tissue injury to my lower back but it sure does cramp my style! Hopefully I will be able to get back to riding next week.
Eli is looking great and almost completely shed out, just a few hairs left on his lower legs. He loaded really well last time I asked so I moved on to working on standing tied. I like to give colts a reason to do things, so I put his food within reach at the hitching rail and just looped the lead rope 3 times around the rail; it gives just enough resistance so that he feels it but will slip if he spooks at something or pulls hard.
He is also getting quite accustomed to the dog and cats being underfoot- or, in the case of Thumper- under nose!
I also noticed that he has a good sprinkling of white hairs on his flanks, just like Mesa does. It must come from Beamer's mama, who was a black rabicano. Eli is also getting really good with his feet, letting me lightly run the rasp over all 4 while he was eating. So when Mel comes next time we should be able to complete his trim without much drama.
Drifter is really looking good (and my how he has grown!) I took some photos yesterday when I turned him out- just cell phone photos, times like this I really miss my Nikon.
He's going to be stunning when he's all grown up! He's a good boy and really smart too. It took only once to train him that he isn't allowed in the shelter when I am in there either cleaning it or putting his food out. But it doesn't mean that he doesn't get up to no good! Look what he did to my stall fork which was leaning against the shelter while I put his hay out....
Dang! I hate it when that happens! I saw somewhere that they are making a fork that can withstand being stomped and bent, I hope I can find one! Meanwhile, he just had to play with it... what the heck it's ruined anyway; let him have some fun.
And I can't go without sharing a really cute puppy video! She now has a name- Tillie. She is 2 weeks old now and finding her legs and her voice. She is quite entertaining!
Time for a Booncat post! He is 2 months and nearly 2 weeks old now so it's time to work on his training a little more than I have been. I can walk up to him and catch him most of the time- he gets better every time- and he is starting to lead too.
I haven't done a lot with him other than pick up his feet and catch him once in a while but as he approaches 3 months old it's time to start getting him to eat the Step One kibble.
It will be a work in progress! I'll probably have to do the alfalfa pellet trick like I did with Eli.
Speaking of Eli.... while he is loading in the trailer to eat every day, it still isn't at the jump-right-in stage. He loads the front feet and backs out several times. Yesterday I added something new to the equation by leaving the trailer door hanging open instead of pinning it all the way back like I have been doing. This makes it like a longer loading chute with the door on one side and me on the other side. I like to send the colts in instead of having them follow me in, which is fine for the first few times but sending them in is safer and more like what they need to do as an adult.So yesterday Eli was not happy about having something different! It took me about a half hour to load him, reminding myself always to stay soft and not get frustrated. I used the John Lyons method of tapping his hip with the stock whip and stop tapping every time he made a forward move. It gets them using their brain as they associate the absence of the aggravating tapping with forward movement and eventually seek that reward. ( Note that I say tapping and not whipping!)
As soon as he starts jumping right in I am going back to having him stand at the hitching rail to eat so that we can work on his standing tied some more. When he goes to his new home I want him trailer loading, foot broke, and standing tied. Another thing I have been doing with him is fly spraying him, he is actually pretty good about that.
But mostly, they just get to be boyz.
Doing the Booncat Boogie
Eli the elegant- he can sure cover the ground!
The size difference in one that will be 16 hands and one that will be 14.2 hands- remembering that Eli is 2 months older than Booncat.
I like it when there is progress every day with the babies. And Eli made good progress yesterday. I led him straight to the trailer for his kibble...
He is getting the hang of it! Several times he stepped in and out with his front feet. Then he loaded one back foot....
and then the other one.....
Good boy Eli!
My goal for today is to have him stand all the way in the trailer to eat. He stepped out nicely too.
After that he seemed to be quite pleased with hisself, and he got a good grooming and even let me clean all 4 feet with very minimal fuss. Very happy with his progress!
Since Mel was last here, I have been working on a couple of things with him. Getting him to really enjoy his kibble so that he will be willing to eat it wherever I put it (think trailer loading) and picking up his feet . With the youngsters, it's always a work in progress, and giving them something to think about. Sometimes they process things for a day or so and then the next time they are much better. Eli wasn't very good with his back feet when we were trying to trim him so I worked on touching them all over with my stock whip, rubbing and petting with it all over his legs and belly. That went really well. So the next time, I used a soft brush, and brushed all his legs, and again he was fine, no kicking. Then the next time he let me pick up the feet and hold them by the toe for just a little bit. Today, I picked them up and if I had a hoof pick in hand could have cleaned them (reckon that will be tomorrow) and he let me circle them and set the toe on the ground. Good boy, Eli!
When I started him on his kibble, I had to mix alfalfa pellets in with it because he likes alfalfa and the smell convinced him to eat it even if the texture bothered him. Every time I had to make a new batch I used less and less alfalfa and now he is on straight kibble (Step 1) and eating it heartily.
The other day it was raining when I went to feed him. I take him out of the mare pen to do this, and had been feeding him at the hitching rail with the rope looped over and not tied, but I was darned if I was going to stand in the rain for 20 minutes while he ate, so I opened up the back of the trailer which set him off in a holycrapitsahorseeatingmonster moment. Colts are so funny when you introduce something new it's such a big deal for them but then their innate curiosity takes over and they just have to check it out.
Very suspicious!
Initially I set the feed tub on the ground next to the open door. As soon as he was ok with that, I set it just barely in the trailer.
That was enough for the first day; I sat next to him quietly while he chowed down, then took him to the hitchin' rail for grooming and working with his feet. The second day (yesterday) he went straight to the feed tub without hesitation and as he ate he was checking out the sides and floor of the trailer and discovered bits of hay there that he wanted.
I kept moving the tub back a bit so he had to put his head and neck a little farther in but stopped short of where he would have to put his feet in. Didn't take him long to clean it all up.
Well today I stepped it up again. I started where I left off and once he was eating heartily, I moved the tub back to where he would have to put his feet in the trailer
I didn't care if he actually ate I just wanted him to volunteer to step into the trailer. He stepped in with one foot, then the other one landed in his feed tub so he backed out.
I asked again, just giving him time to think about it without pressuring him up.
I moved the tub closer to him and let him eat some more, then slid it back in again and asked again. The next video is 6 minutes if you care to watch it, but it's interesting watching his thought process as he takes his time deciding that maybe he can do this.
Since he was so good, I moved the tub back to the door for him and let him clean it up. He did think about stepping in again to eat some of the hay after he was done his kibble but after 5 minutes, he was done. Little guy burned a lot of brain cells thinking today! I gave him a good grooming and picked up his feet before turning him back into the herd. I was pretty happy with him today!
I said goodbye to Sparkle today, and I hope that wherever she ends up she will get a chance to sparkle and shine for whoever is lucky enough to get her.
Eli's owner came over yesterday, and we did a run to North 40 in Sandpoint where she bought farrier supplies and I got some dewormer and rope for making halters. Then we spent some quality time with Eli, culminating in getting his front feet trimmed. I wish I could say he was good, but he did protest quite a bit; but with persistence he got done. He was really kicky with his back feet and that earned him some discipline and some work until he decided that maybe, just maybe, it was easier for him to let us pick up his back feet. So that is what I will be working on before her next visit.
Here are some cute photos of them, you can see that Mel is quite smitten with him.
You can tell she is a farrier, those are strong arms!
Eli is almost all shed out now. His tail will keep a lot of that light colour mixed with the black, just like big brother Rio. In fact he is a lot like Rio.
I told her she is going to have to teach him to bow so he will be easier to get on to ride! 12. 2 at the hip at only 3 and 1/2 months old....
Summer is in full swing now, complete with thunderstorms, rain and hot days all mixed up. But not too hot to get work done with the horses. Booncat progresses, he is fairly easy to catch now and is starting to lead and turn. He is usually busy playing with the lead rope knot!
Eli is eating his foal ration well now, although I still have to mix it with alfalfa pellets. I'm working on getting him to hold his feet up longer, as the next time his owner comes we are going to rasp his feet. He and Booncat play now, they are both instigators and pesky with each other. The size difference is amazing. I measured Eli today, he is 12.2 hh at the hip already! and just over 3 months old!
Trimmed Drifter's feet yesterday, he was not bad; a bit fidgety; I had my friend Dave helping and when he got too restless I had Dave walk him out to help reset his brain. He only jerked away once where I had to let go, and only got cussed out once. 😁
He is getting big too- 14.2 and a half at the hip at 14 months. He's looking pretty good though!
I worked Sparkle a couple more times, bitting her up first and then riding one time, then just riding her 2 more times, all in the small pen. I tried riding her out of the pen into the yard but it didn't feel right, she was very looky and spooky so I figured she isn't ready for that just yet. More arena time with her will help me get to know her better, but that means hauling and as we only have one truck and Ted uses it to get to work it kinda makes it tough to just do my thing. I rode Gussie down to the river on her own twice and ponied Sparkle once to the river- she loved it! She was a bit looky going through the yard though and shied once as we got going, so I may not trail ride on her for a while. After riding my good solid Gussie I just don't want to deal with spooking any more. Getting too old for that!
Took another ride on Gussie today before it got too hot, cruising through the bush down to the river and back.
What's not to love? A lovely day, the creak of the saddle and a good horse to ride. My kind of relaxation!
Friday the 19th Eli turned 3 months old. I kind of slacked off on his training because he won't be weaned until he's 5 months old- and I kinda regret that now! He is soooo big!
However, he is a sweet heart most of the time. He is really easy to catch, loves his skritches and getting brushed, leads reasonably well but there is room for improvement there.
He is slow in adapting to eating his foal kibble. He though I was crazy the first time I offered him the Step 1. Not food! apparently. So I tricked him a bit by adding alfalfa pellets, which smells much more like food, and had to offer it by hand and slowly work him up to eating it out of the pan. He's a funny boy; I tried him this morning on less pellets mixed in and he was having none of that!!!
He is starting to show his true colour now. He's going to look just like his big brothers!
He moves like Rio, thinks like Kai, and has Nitro's funky crooked face stripe. Speed isn't his thing although he has plenty of it and uses it when he needs it, he just doesn't zoom like Booncat does and like Nitro did.
When Booncat gets zooming at turnout time, Eli gets in on it too- with lots of tail flagging and looking cute at first .
That booty!
Photo bombed by Tay... who is going to have puppies in 3 weeks!
This is a really nice colt . So happy that he has found his person!
Headed out a couple of days ago for my first real trail ride of the year. Gussie and I and Janice and Jade, and their dog Gus went to McGinty lake which is a nice ride through widely spaced Ponderosa Pines and lots of wildflowers (which I didn't get photos of!). We rode about 2 and a half hours which was perfect for my out of shape horse and my butt .
There be mountains in the distance!
Both horses knew there were other folks out and about even though we couldn't see them at first.
Jade and Gussie are the same age, 16. Jade is a Morgan. Ain't she pretty? There was something she was alerting on that we couldn't see- maybe it was the skunk that we kept getting whiffs of as we ate our lunch by the lake.
Gussie, however was busy with her own lunch!
I got a kick out of Gus (the dog) who had to go into every bit of water he could find- whether it be a mud puddle-
or the lake, where he happily bailed right in and swam around just for the joy of it. That's a Labrador for you!
It was good to have him there because this is bear country.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch....
I have kept Booncat and Sassy separate from the herd as Sassy got used to being a mama, and because Sparkle and her sometimes get into kicking matches and I didn't want any injuries now that Sassy has been sold. So I brought Sparkle and Drifter out and put Sassy and Booncat in with Belle, Eli and Gussie. It worked out really well, as Sassy is finally chill enough that she doesn't get all worried if Booncat is out of her sight. At first she put the run on Eli as he checked out this new addition which he has only visited with over the fence so far. But today, he was allowed to approach.
There is 2 months difference in their age, hence the size difference- plus Eli is going to be a BIG boy.
And about Drifter- we kicked him into the mare herd so that he can learn herd manners, which was working perfectly, because Belle is already in foal to Beamer, and if we have a catch colt from him with Sparkle or Gussie it won't matter. We want Sparkle to get used to stallion behaviour so that she can get in foal, which up to this point she shuts down around stallions, as Janice found out to great expense over the last 3 years. So far, it is working: Drifter is mindful of the mares tolerance for him, and Sparkle, although she hasn't shown heat in the 2 months she has been here is at least tolerating Drifter's attention.
I took the stall front off of the foaling stall so it's nice and open and they can both go in if the weather gets bad. They actually get along quite well- and Sparkle is the boss!
"Cowboy"
