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. 

Beautiful autumn days

 We sure have had some beautiful fall days to start off the season. The sun shines in my office window first thing, it rises right at the end of our driveway. 

Morning chores are done to the sound of geese v-winging it overhead, honking as they head from one farmer's field to the next, gleaning grain that the combines have left behind as they (the geese, not the combines!😏) prepare for their long flight south. I will try for some photos of them over the next few days. I heard the owl hooting in the trees across the river this morning too. I do love my mornings! Beamer has been frisky on these frosty mornings too, up to his usual antics. Too dim of light for my cell phone camera at 7 am, will have to pack the Nikon. 

The boyz are doing well, this week is all about getting them foot broke so we can trim those li'l hooves asap. Also tomorrow I will put the horse trailer in position to start the loading training. 

They aren't too worried about small spaces so I think the trailer loading will go well. 

Little buddies

Somebody got his daddy's penchant for yawning! I haven't seen Scooter do this so it has to be the Beamer genetics in Boe showing up!

We were working on the fence in the south west pasture so I walked over to see the river. We are bordered on 3 sides by the Medicine River, north, west and south , almost like we are a peninsula. The bank is about 20 ft. high here. The river curves from the west to the south, and the current is flowing north here. Where my hammock overlooks the river, it's the north side and the river is flowing west! This little river meanders through the farmlands as it pleases. 

I have a little update for you on my former dog Thea, remember her? She is the one I sold back to the breeder as she was in need of more work than I could give her. 

Thea has excelled in working cattle, I'm so glad she found her niche, as they usually show their collies on sheep. Her littermate Mia is also a working cattle dog on an Alberta ranch. 

Decision made

So- I've been giving Rosalee some thought. 

I am so not into searching for another horse, so I am going to give her a chance. 

It will mean that I might have to take clinics, haul her lots and ride her lots. I think this winter I can just ride her around here even if it is just on the property. I can pony Mesa and even Belle. I can haul her to the indoor- she does great in arenas. 

I'll have to give her maternity leave from Feb. to July and start her again. She is really broke, I just need to get past her issues. Once her foal is weaned- if she isn't bred back- I can do more and hopefully will get to the point where I enjoy riding her. If not- well- once Mesa is old enough to ride, then I can sell her. I'm hoping that being pregnant has settled her a bit and she will be less emotional.

She has so many redeeming qualities. She is a great babysitter.

I can teach children on her as long as it's in the round pen or under close supervision. Hopefully she will become a great kids horse when she is a little older.

 And she is just so darn good looking....

and has a pretty good personality. Everybody loves her. And she is super athletic too.

If it doesn't work to the point that I really enjoy riding her again, she will at least make some very marketable babies for me and will earn her keep that way.

Meanwhile, I will do what I can to progress with her.

In other news.....

 

My little Thea has moved on to her new home with one of the top trials trainers/breeders. Not gonna lie, it was hard to let her go.

I'll miss that goofy face and her snickers and doggy kisses. But she is with a half a dozen other dogs and an excellent trainer, so it's all good.

Of dogs and cats.

My dog Tess turned 11 yesterday, here is her official 11th birthday portrait.

I have been doing some serious thinking about Thea, and her strong desire to work, which you can see in this video:

I feel that it isn't fair for me to keep suppressing her desire to work, and my horses are starting to take after her; she got kicked by Pistol the other day, and Mesa was striking at her today. So I mentioned to one of my Saskatchewan friends that I would consider letting her go to a working home.... and she got a hold of her friend Wendy Schmaltz, who happens to be the breeder of Thea's sire and owner of her grandsire. Wendy is the breeder of several of the top trials dogs in Canada, and after seeing this video, called and we made a deal on her. Thea will be leaving in November, hopefully for a life of working to her heart's content. Although I will really miss her, I feel that it's in her best interests to move on.

Beamer got in a bit of a wreck the other day, when I went down to feed he was moving funny and I saw that he had a swollen left front leg and a swollen sheath. (He was walking like a kid with a full soggy diaper!)

He also had dirt all over his back. To be on the safe side, he got a shot of fast acting penicillin, and a tetanus shot. I did find some scrapes on his sheath, one is visible in the photo. So after some CSI work, I found a spot where he had rolled and I figure he had gotten himself cast up against a fencepost and probably had a hind leg on each side of it, hence the trauma to his sheath, and I figure he banged his front leg with a hind or even with his other front. Cold hosing the leg really helped, by the next day it was fine. The sheath swelling is going down, it's about half the size now. I did watch to make sure he could pee properly.

I lost my kitty Pearl the other day too. She lived upstairs and never came down to socialize, and if you went upstairs she would hide. I found her laying partly under the bed, so I picked her up. She was clearly dying, too weak to move more than her eyes and very faint meows. I held her for the next hour and she died in my arms. No idea why she died, she was just 7 years old. 

Pretty Pearl, shortly after we got her

Speaking of cats, kitty Boo has been gone for nearly a week, I sure hope he comes back.

Chillin' with my B Boy

Day 11 of the 100 day challenge

Gorgeous day for a trail ride today. While hubby went off to an auction, I saddled up Beamer and headed to what I call the back 40, the neighbour's cattle lease area. He doesn't have cows there yet.

I was sure hoping to see some wildlife and wasn't disappointed. We saw a couple of grouse, and a Ring necked pheasant that flew out of a bush right beside us (good Beamer, didn't even flinch!).

 Near the end of the ride we flushed a couple of white tailed deer out of their afternoon napping place.

Checking out the deer

Thea is getting to be a much better trail riding companion. I've got a good recall on her now but still need to work on "down".

I treasure every ride I get on Beamer, I trust him and he trusts me- I even got him to step over a trickle creek today- he usually hates them!

I'll probably end up riding him again tomorrow after church, as the guys are hauling out the manure pile in his pen.

Ted found something pretty cool at the auction:

Must be from Calgary, home of the Calgary Stampede. Looks great in our rustic bathroom!

First day of spring

Just had to share this video- we should all be as happy and carefree as this pup!

March

March came in like a lion here. Snowing again, but at least it isn't cold and blustery. And I hope it leaves like a lamb!!!! On the bright side, April is only a month away.....

Around the farm on a snowy day.

Although snowmageddon continues, it is kind of pretty and very mild, with temps just above freezing, or dipping just below. I did a little walkabout with my big girl camera today; here are some farm scenes:

 That slope in the background may end up being  cause for concern this spring if we get heavy rain on top of all this snow. Sure hope it doesn't come sliding down like it did 20 years ago- although I think our house is far enough away from it to not be affected if it does.

 The car we want to rebuild this year.... can you see enough of it to figure out what it is?

The pond below the horse pasture. It's filling up but a long way from the top of the banks.

Of course, I couldn't be out and about without some horse and dog photos!!!!

 Mr. Handsome, hanging around all relaxed and looking, well, handsome.

 Snowflakes on his kisser....

 Mama Belle's silvery muzzle

and miss Thea, always on the job.

This is how much snow we have so far:

17 and 3/4 inches and it's still coming down. I think this snowfall accounts for about 10 to 12 inches of that. I just checked the forecast, we should have another 4 inches by morning and no let up in sight. Glad I'm retired and don't have to drive in to work every morning!

Walkabout

The snow turned to rain a couple of days ago- not a lot of rain, thank goodness. But it made the snow really heavy. I went for a walk down to the river to check on it. Tess and Thea came with.... at least, until we got even with the horse pen and then Tess hightailed it back to the house... sigh. But miss Thea was really happy to get out for a walk with me.

C'mon, lets go!

I saw a lot of deer tracks and then a set of single deer tracks that looked like it would be a big buck. There were coyote tracks right on top of the deer tracks, but they were fresher than the deer so I'm thinking it was tracking the deer but didn't catch up with it.

Those coyote tracks are twice the size of Thea's tracks.

I really enjoyed this walk, it was a beautiful day, sun poking out, and nice and mild. It felt good to get out and get some exercise after being cooped up and sick since January 6th; I'm finally almost better.

The river was gurgling and burbling through this hole in the ice. It looks pretty good, I think all the flood danger is past for now. The government sent in heavy equipment to open up a channel along the banks, and it worked pretty good, the level dropped at least a couple of feet in one day.

Looking upstream from where I was on the dyke.

I sure hope the worst of the winter is past us now. I'm sure we'll still get lots of snow storms, but I hope that it stays fairly mild. 

I love walking in the woods, this is something I really missed at the last place we lived. (7 years!!!)

Here are some of the things that captured my attention.

Not too sure what these red berries are but they looked outstanding against the cedar tree....

and on their own. I'll have to check it in the spring and see what the bush looks like- it was at least 10 ft. tall. Tara, any ideas? It's not mountain ash.

I love the pop of colour on this tree, and I saw lots of Oregon Grape too- it's green leaves are always delightful against the snow.

Thea and I made our way back, sometimes I would have her wait up for me if she got too far ahead.

We walked back along the bottom of the horse pen so we could collect Reba at the barn on our way back to the house. Rosalee had to investigate why we were coming from that direction.

Had to have a horse photo of course! Well, maybe two, because Beamer was being silly...

Chore time

My little pocket camera, the Nikon AW100 finally kicked the bucket. Now I have to pack my big camera and the only lens I have for it is the telephoto. Time to invest in some more equipment!

Here are scenes from this morning's chore routine.

Coulee waits patiently in the background while the other mares hog my attention. She is so black right now, and the only brown is that little bit on her muzzle. I'm really hoping for a black foal from her.

Can you tell whose muzzle this is?

Thea lays at the fenceline in a staredown with Rosalee (she is the only one that pays attention to Thea).

Foose thinks in winter he should be a house cat. It warmed up so both cats got kicked back to the barn; Foose especially because he decided that the bathroom floor or the bathtub were preferable to sharing a litterbox with Pearl. Bad kitty!

Thumper did well, he was still asleep in the barn when I checked on him. He got up lazily and made his way out, to be greeted by his buddy Thea.

Thumpy is such a tolerant cat. He is one heck of a mouser too, so he better earn his keep, I have hay stored in the barn- alfalfa mix bales for foaling time and I'd prefer that they don't become mouse condominiums!