Some update photos

 Kai and Josie have been earning their keep team roping. 

Josie (Chickory x Beamer) on the heels, Kai (Belle x Beamer) on the head side

Rio and Derby (full brothers to Kai) had a job working on a ranch this year. I was sent these photos of Rio at work.

I don't have photos of Derby. Pistol, who is also a Belle son, has been competing in roping too. 

Pistol (Belle x Rollin in My Dually)

All the above horses are in the same home and they couldn't have landed in a better home. They also bought Minx, who is a daughter of Sparkle N Peppy, the first one of the Beamer / Belle cross. Minx's sire was grey, and she is slowly going grey. 

Minx

And last but not least I have a photo of Gussie's daughter, who I called Pie. She was born on the farm here 2  years ago and is a daughter of Shayla's late stallion, Givemathrashing.

Pie is also in a very good home. I guess that's all one can ask for as a breeder, that the foals go to homes that value them, provide good care, and use them. 

Visiting the Beamer\Belle horses

 I had a bit of a getaway this past weekend. And of course, it  included  was mostly about horses. I spent a wonderful couple hours with the good folks who have , over the years, bought 6 of my horses. 

Here they are in all their beauty. 

First off- all the Beamer babies.

For all the Rio fans out there:

He is massive! I think right around 16 hh and probably 13 - 1400 lbs. He has carried his owner  through a lot of events, from 4 H  to barrels and roping and ranch work. He was a flag bearer horse in the Calgary Stampede last year. The young lady who owns him has had plenty of offers on him, but he is not going anywhere. The brand on his shoulder is their brand, some of them also carry the DLH brand. 

Then there is Kai- he is the steady Eddie of the group, the favourite uncle to the young horses who keeps them calm. He is Alana's horse and it is pretty obvious that he loves her. 

Kai is built more stocky than Rio, but he too is a big strong horse. he has won high point in gaming for Alana, and her daughter has used him as a heading horse. He's a big gentle soul. 

They sold Nitro, and I found out that he is now the mount for a 16 year old high school student who team ropes in the High School Rodeos with him, and they are a perfect match. I am trying to find out who his current owner is as I would love to watch them at work. 

Then there is Josie... what a beauty she is!

The one I should have kept... but she has been a really good horse for Kevin, this year she won 2 buckles for him at rodeos, she is a heeling horse in the team roping. Josie is 11 this year. she is not a Belle daughter, her dam was Chickory who is now raising foals for her current owner.

I would love to do a breed lease on Josie if he ever decides to retire her from roping. 

The next horse is a Beamer/Belle son. This was Belle's last Beamer baby, and he is another one I probably should have kept, he and Josie are the two Beamers that literally took my breath away. 

This is Derby. 

Derby is 3 this year and he is already a big boy like his brothers. 

He is another member of the Big Butt club! I think it's safe to say that the Beamer/Belle cross produced outstanding individuals. 

Next up is Minx.

Kevin likes the cross so much that he bought Minx, who is a daughter of the full sister to all those boys. You would know her as Sparkle from my posts on this blog, she was Belle's first foal. Minx was sired by a 16 hh grey Playgun bred stallion. She has the same quiet and trainable mind as her uncles and they really like her. She will be grey. 

This is Kai and Minx:

I think she will have a good size to her as well; Kai is 15.3 hh. Minx is only 2 and has a lot of growing to do yet. 

Then there is Pistol; he was the buckskin foal from Belle and sired by Rollin In My Dually, she was in foal with him when I bought her back from Fleetwood Farms. 

Pistol is another big soggy gelding rope horse for Kevin, and he's doing very well with him. Pistol has a bit of a different look to him than the Beamer sons.  Kevin loves him and says he will never part with him either. 

Knowing that the horses I raised are so valued by their owners, and that they have become excellent performance horses is all a person could ask for when it comes to raising horses. I have been blessed in this venture over the years. Finding a family who kept buying them and promoting them and loving them is all I could ever ask for. 

Oh, and one more thing- knowing that they are all happy, healthy horses. 

Derby💖 He got Beamer's head but Belle's ears

It was great to visit and catch up with them. I am going to try to get to one of their ropings so I can get some photos of them in action. If not this year then maybe next year!

A few updates

While Moondance was still growing in his mama's belly, I had this feeling that he was special, And I was right! He is absolutely adorable, friendly, easy to work with, curious and so very handsome. I got his dna results back and he is 5 panel negative (perfect!!) and is a true black like his daddy, and homozygous for black, which means that if he was a breeding  stallion he could not throw a red based foal. Beamer isn't - remember Josie, she is a sorrel.

It will be so fun watching him shed out! Those diagonal socks and blaze will sure make him eye catching.

Don't be chewing your mama's tail!

Drifter got the job done with Gussie, he covered her twice and was very easy to handle- once he figured out what part of the mare he was supposed to mount! Gussie was quite patient with him, just a few squeals when he didn't get it right. So assuming she caught, she will be due right around the same time as Belle.

The horse shelter nears completion, we pick up the tin for the roof tomorrow and Saturday will go hard and get the roof done and the last wall nailed up. So happy to be able to move the mares in together Saturday evening!

The folks who have all the Beamer kidz posted some photos on Facebook- check out the boyz and Josie!

Nearest the road is Rio, then Nitro, Kai and Josie and another unidentified horse.

So nice to see them all out together! And check out this photo- Big Butt Belle sure does stamp her foals! 

Nitro, Kai, Rio and Josie

The girls and a Kai update

Morning chores are entertaining lately. Mesa gets going, leaping and cavorting and then she gets the others fired up. This video is Sassy and Ice having a good gallop on a morning after we had a heavy rain.

Mama Belle is heavy in foal- 4 months to go!- but she gets in on the action too.

She sure has a lovely big trot- and she passes it on to her foals.

Speaking of her foals, I have a Kai update. They have been team roping on him, roping the head on him and the heels on Josie. Here is a video of them working together.

Kai is looking awesome!

That's Josie standing next to him, you can see how big he got.

Aren't they booty-ful  😍

Josie update

You all remember beautiful Josie?



Her owners have been roping with her. Roping the heels in team roping, and she just earned her first paycheck!
I sure do love that little red head!

I guess I can now say that Beamer is a proven sire of rope horses! I am so pleased that so many of his babies have gone to this family, who really do use them and appreciate them. Just heard that Kai is a heading horse now, so Beamer babies working both ends at team roping!

Josie update

For those of you who remember Josie, Beamer's daughter out of Chickory- she has also been started on team roping. Here is a video of her learning how to be a heel horse:

Beamer is sure siring versatile horses. That is exactly the way I wanted it to be :)

Josie and th' boys

Look what Nitro is doing now ......

He is doing well as a heeling horse, gets ridden a lot on the ranch too.....

That's Nitro in the middle and Josie on the right. Josie is learning to be a heel horse too. 

And then there's Rio....

He is in training to be a barrel horse and is doing well. He placed 3rd in the 3 D in this show.

I don't have anything new on Kai yet, just this quick video of him playing with a bag that was on the stall of one of their new horses.

So all these Beamer kids are doing what they are bred to do- be a good horse to ride. 

Beamer's "kidz"

We had a great weekend away... where to begin! Let's make this post about the horses. I took the mare back to Alberta- she lives with the Beamer kidz. As I drove up their driveway, I spotted one of the girls working a horse in their arena... I had to look hard because I really thought it was Rio- but it didn't have the white socks and I thought, that's way too big to be Kai! But it was! Dang has he grown and filled out!!!! I just had to measure all the boys; Kai and Nitro both stand right at 62 inches, so 15.2hh, and Rio is a good solid 15.3 and a half. Wow! And I say Wow! because Beamer is just over 14.2hh and their mama is 14.3hh.

Terrible photo of Kai, but you can see how much he has filled out. He is a big soggy boy now!

And just look at Nitro! What a handsome boy! I think Alberta agrees with them!

They brought Rio and Josie in for me to see too. I didn't get a photo of Rio and once again, a crappy photo- tough to take them at close quarters in a stall- but look how miss Josie has filled out.

Josie got to be ridden down the road to their neighbours for a lesson, her first ride out.

Photo credit to Alana!

For those of you who didn't get to see a photo of the paint mare's Beamer baby from last year- here he is. His name is Cowboy (Pep's Midnight Cowboy)

Photo taken by his owner. He is one year old now.

Josie

Well, miss Josie left today.


 Her she is at her new home, being re-united with her brothers from another mother- Kai, Nitro, and Rio.
I love this next photo- thanks Alana for taking the photos and letting me post them.

It seems really strange to just have one mare in the pen; I can't remember the last time I was down to one mare- probably about 20 years.

Clancy misses her buddy. But now I will have more time to work/play with her. I has plans :)

Doing what's right

I have some news to share.....

I'm sure you all remember the 3 brothers. From left to right: Nitro, Rio, and Kai

It's a family affair! Dad, daughter and mom all riding them. This photo warms my heart!

They were looking for a project horse for their daughter, and guess who will be joining them.

Yes, miss Josie is heading to Alberta next weekend. I'm going to miss her.

I called this post " Doing what's right " for a couple of reasons:  because my breeding program is working, if I can raise good minded family horses that generate repeat buyers; and because this is the right move for Josie. Much as I love her, she needs to be shown. I am not that person who could take her talent to the level it needs to go- this is a super athletic filly who is going to someone who will let her shine. I'm just glad that I got that one ride on her. Don't worry, I'll be keeping in touch with her- and all th'boys!

Solo..... *grin*

Another beautiful day today! Shayla came over to be there for me while I took Josie on her first solo ride.

I saddled her up for this, and she stood quietly for saddling. (The saddle pad is too big, it makes her neck look short, which it is not.)

Off to the round pen, where I followed my usual program of ground work, and added in moving and flapping the stirrup fenders. Also did the ground reining; about 40 minutes of ground work.
I mounted from the fence again, she does so well with positioning herself for that. Good girl, Josie!

We started out with Shayla on the get-down rope, then after a little bit she handed it off to me and we were going solo.

I'm really happy with this filly! She is a sweetheart. A dirt bike went by as I was riding, and she didn't turn a hair; as well a couple of trucks stopped on the road just over the fence from us and she ignored them too, just kept her mind on what I was asking her. All in all a very successful first ride. She stayed nice and soft in the bridle, didn't get goosey or try to speed up, just did what was asked of her.

I think from start to finish was about 20 minutes on her back. We did some standing around while Shayla and I chatted too, and she just stood there. I think she is going to be a pretty sensible riding horse. 

Working miss Josie

Another wonderful day here- is it spring yet?

The ravens think so, they are building their nest.

Yesterday, I worked Josie in the round pen, as you can guess by my Wordless Wednesday post. Some time at liberty, some time in hand... she is so much fun. Yesterday, I got on her for the first time. I positioned her at the fence, as I learned to do in the Buck Brannaman clinic- she hit the spot just perfectly. I had my friend Dave over as a safety on the lead line, and was only on her for a minute or so. Once I had petted her all over, wiggled my legs back and forth, leaned over and hugged her and generally made a nuisance of my self shifting my weight, Dave led her out; I just wanted to see how she would react to the feel of me on her as she was moving. If you recall we did this last summer with Shayla on her, but Shayla is about 75 pounds lighter than me. Josie was just fine with it. I was only on her for a few minutes.
Today, she was soft minded right from the start, whereas the last 2 times she was a bit up and full of herself- today she seemed to get it that it was time to go to work, not to play. I spent a good half hour or more on ground work, working on getting her to follow a soft feel in whatever I was asking her to do, from moving her feet in all directions, stopping, backing, sidepassing, turns on the haunches and on the forehand, rocking back and forth with just a suggestion, and squaring up her feet. After that, I put the bridle on her and did some ground reining. This filly is so light in the bridle that you only need to put a tiny bit of weight on the rein and she gives softly. Any time I got too heavy it was because I wasn't quick enough in my release, not because she was resisting. What a sweetheart.
Once Dave arrived, I got on her again, and this time I had the bridle on her, so I had Dave lead her around (you will see the first little bit of that in the video) then I put the camera away and used the reins to direct her, with Dave still on the lead line but not directing her. She reined softly, stopped and backed nicely. I think I rode for around 5 minutes.

That was a pretty good session! So happy with this filly, she learns quick and really wants to please.
She got some grazing time after and that gave her a happy.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunshine and the redhead

Gorgeous sunny day today- I wanted to ride Clancy, but I noticed she is in heat, so I"ll wait a couple of days. I worked Josie instead.
My round pen is in pretty good shape now, so after brushing all the mud off Josie we headed over that way. Got just about there and Josie spotted a cow coming out from behind a bale feeder and went into full alert- she was really feeling good and doing some dancing on the end of the lead line; it has been far too long since she got out of her pen and put to work!

I worked only on getting her to focus on me and work- move your hip over, move your front end across, move your hip, move your front.... etc.... I didn't expect too much from her for her first day back to work. Once we got to the point where she softened and quit worrying about why the tipped over granary was rocking from side to side (the bull calves were rubbing on it) I turned her loose, thinking she might want to play a little, but no.

I did get her to move out some more and had a little fun turning her back along the fence as if she was cutting. That filly has moves! I did take a little video, but it really only shows one of her great moves.

She is super athletic.
 After play time, I took her along the fence and worked on getting her in position for mounting from the fence. She stood nice and quiet, and I stuck a leg over her- never mind my stylish boots!

 I was standing on the fence, and put my leg over her a few times- she didn't move at all, so I slid over enough to put my weight on her back, still keeping a leg on the fence.

Yay! As soon as I get someone to help me I'll start getting on her bareback on a lead line, and then it won't be long before I'll be riding her in the round pen. Taking it slow and easy.

Sunday Stills- Glare

The glare of the sun was most welcome on the 2 or 3 days it showed up last week. Between the sun and the rain, all the snow is gone and the frost is out of the ground.

Taking photos facing into the sun is challenging, but can also come up with some shots with lots of ambience.

I'm really enjoying this mild winter, although I know that folks back east didn't get such  a mild winter; I have to say I feel blessed to live where I do.

I took this one just for fun, Josie's eye with the sun glare .