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!

Nitro

Nitro goes up for sale again Saturday. Here is a link to his sale video. 

https://events.playlistviewer.com/events/595_082722_scs_HS/?lot=Lot+2

Beautiful boy. Hope he finds the best home. 

EDIT:

Bidding went up to $22,000 and they no saled him. Not sure how much the reserve was but I'm guessing 30 grand. 

I'm still here

 I guess I have kind of been AWOL the last couple of weeks. It has been a rather trying time. First, one of my husband's best friends passed away. We were not able to go to his funeral. It was very tough watching his health deteriorate so quickly.

Then you all remember Mel, who bought Eli? Her husband passed away unexpectedly and that has been very hard. We still don't know the cause. Again, we were not able to go to his funeral. 

Then there are all the cases on the Covid Adverse Reaction Testimonies site where people are sharing the devastating effect of the jabs that people are willingly taking and how some people are shamed into agreeing to do something that is an unknown and experimental procedure. So please don't anyone tell me how safe it is to put your faith in an experimental gene therapy and how horrible people are for not wanting to get jabbed.  Millions of people have had their lives radically changed from the jab agenda. I am so fed up with people spreading hate and blame. And don't even get me started on medical apartheid. Did we not learn anything from the last century? How did we go from In God We Trust to in Bill Gates We Trust?

I think it's time for the God Reset, not the Great Reset. 

Ok rant over.

Back to our regularly scheduled program......

Nitro went to a new home yesterday.

He is going to a roping family who host jackpots and roping schools so it looks like he will be helping a new bunch of youth learn the ropes (pun intended!) 

I couldn't ask for a better ambassador for my breeding program. 

Sunday News

 Well I just couldn't come up with anything worthwhile for the Sunday Stills Challenge (abstract) this week, so instead lets read the Sunday Newspaper. 

First article of interest....

Just found out that Nitro is being sold. 

Now that is exactly what my breeding program is all about! Good minded, athletic, versatile horses. I hope he tops the sale! (For those of you who don't remember him, Nitro is the 3rd of the Beamer /Belle geldings)

Now on to the next bit of news.

I have officially taken Dally off the market. The person who claimed to really want her has not followed through- which is quite all right with me, because little Dally Darlin' is really growing on me.

 

Look at those muscles!

Airborne! Such a floaty mover.

"I am special!"

"I can't believe she wanted to sell me!"

Guess you'll just have to put up with me Dally!

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

Beamer's boys

Here is another birthday boy:

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.

"Cowboy"

"Tuff"

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. 

Earning their keep

Nitro on the left packing salt in for a rancher, that's Rio on the right with his girl, and their friend on her nice dun mare. Good boyz!

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.

A couple of updates

Does everyone recognize Nitro? This was his first branding and it sure looks like he loves his job.

What a good boy! Sure am pleased with all those boys. 

I finally got to ride Coulee today. I was trying all last week to find time to ride, but so many things got in the way. 

She's like Geez lady, just climb aboard would ya?

Ted has to replace the floor boards in my new trailer, and we sold the old one so I just rode in the round pen for our first ride. I'm happy to say she is everything I hoped she would be. Super light to the rein and leg, nice turnaround, sidepasses, turns on the haunches and forehand, has a really nice whoa and back up. We'll see how it all holds together once we get into the big arena and out on the trails, but I don't anticipate any issues there. 

She does have some holes in her training, as I expected; she is reluctant to accept the bit- probably because of her teeth not being done for so long. However, she doesn't really evade, just doesn't want to open her mouth. I just wait on her and don't make an issue of it. 

She is a little jumpy with sudden movement, and again, it's just something I can work with. She's very suspicious of flags, or if I flap the stirrup leathers- so of course I do just that. :o)

Here's a little video I took, some leg yields and turns and her stop and back up, all done one handed on a loose rein.

Really looking forward to our next ride!

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!

Updates on Belle and the boyz

Some updates on Mama Belle and the boys.
Belle foaled out a big bay colt yesterday, I'm waiting for more photos from the owner so I can share them.
Kai got his foot stuck in wire and required vet attention, including a cast to immobilize the foot so it could heal, and it is healing up nicely. The young lady who was riding him is taking very good care of him during his recovery.
Rio had his first show, and they took second place in Showmanship, haven't heard yet how they did in their other classes.

This next photo is from their 4H Achievement day.

They don't just ride in the arena, they hit the mountain trails too.

I hear that Nitro and Kevin are entered in the Buck Brannaman clinic in High River in November.
That should be awesome for them!
I'll post more news on Kai's recovery as I get it.

Expectations

Well, yesterday was a mighty long day. Left here at 4:30 AM and drove to Alberta, got back at 9:30 PM. I stopped to pick up Shayla, and then went to look at the 4 mares. I was told that the mares were well broke and started on the cowboy up obstacles. I think they should have said that they were doing really well on the obstacles but were green broke.
To start with, I eliminated 2 of the mares just looking at them, they weren't appealing to me at all. Nothing really drastic on them, just not the kind of horse I am interested in- I have to like looking at them as well as like riding them!
They had one mare ready to go, and I didn't really care for her but since he was saddling her anyway I checked her out. 8 years old, did a great job on the obstacles, but was not soft in the bridle at all. I did ride her, and was pleased with how she handled the course but that's about it.
The other mare was pretty to look at, and only 5 years old, but they had talked her up so much that I figured she would be just perfect.....
To start with, he wasn't going to lope her until Shayla asked him to. She wasn't bad, a little forward and fresh- she hadn't really been ridden in the last 2 months-  and she did a decent job on the obstacles.

After that Shayla rode her and that's where we found the holes in her. Lots of trouble going left, not a lot of body control. I rode her too, and what I found was that when you asked her to do something she would not quite know what you want and give you a bunch of stuff you didn't ask for- like for example when I asked for a turn on the forehand she wanted to walk forward when I moved my leg back to push her hip over, and then swished her tail when I used a little more leg to make my request clearer. And when I asked for a whoa from a walk- I take a deep seat which puts my legs a bit forward, say whoa and wait for a response before I go to the rein- she didn't have a clue about that and kept walking until I used the reins to stop her.
Here I was asking her to pick up her shoulder and move off my inside leg as we circled- she didn't know what I was asking.

This to me is a really green horse. In all fairness, her mouth was a mess, not much movement and sores inside. A good float would make her a much happier horse.
That being said, these are things I can work on with her-my concern is that most of her riding has been in the arena with a bit of outside riding, I'd rather have it the other way- lots of outside riding and less arena work. My other concern with her is her conformation....

which I will leave to your discernment.

I got to thinking about what my expectations are. To start with, this is the first time I have looked for a broke/started horse since 1990. I have only ever bought 2 horses that had been started by someone else, and I have owned a lot of horses over the years. Mostly what I ride I have either raised, or bought as a weanling or yearling and then done the training myself or had someone put the first 30 days on and then I go from there.

I also think I have been a little spoiled by the quality of the horses I have raised, especially the Beamer babies. I don't want to downgrade! I sold two darn fine geldings to get a mare, so she will have a lot to measure up to.

 We went to visit the boys yesterday, it sure was nice to see them and they are really happy in their new home. They all 3 remembered us, but it was plain that they didn't miss us! Rio had eyes only for Rorie, and Nitro was all over Kevin

Kai was a little wary almost as if he thought I was going to take him away from his new happy home-  not gonna happen Kai, so just relax!

Why can't I find a mare that looks this good!

It was nice to be able to get all 3 boyz in one photo!

Kai and Nitro are deciding if Rio's blanket needs alterations.

Hat trick

Those of you who know hockey terminology know that a hat trick is 3 goals by the same player.
How about 3 full brothers in the same home?
Yes, that's right.
Remember I said someone was coming to look at Kai?
Kai and Nitro are joining Rio.
I couldn't be happier for th' boyz; this is the perfect home for all 3 of them.
I hadn't done anything with Kai since Christmas, and today he was as good as could be.

His wonderful temperament shone through and he tried hard to please.
Now, about Nitro.....
My husband for quite some time has been unhappy with me starting and riding colts. He worries about me. And I agree- I am past the age where it's a good idea to get on the youngsters no matter how sweet they are. I can still do it, I just don't enjoy it much any more. I want a broke horse that I can just go have fun with- and, I want a mare to ride. So I asked if they would be interested in Nitro too.
They were.
And Nitro is joining his brothers in Alberta.

That is Rio's girl holding Nitro, and her dad with Kai. I think Kai will end up being her mom's horse, Nitro will be her dad's horse- and she has Rio. It's a family affair! How cool is that that they will all be mounted on full brothers.
I'm over the moon!
Josie isn't too happy though. I'll have to find that perfect mare soon.