The dentist and a lesson

Thursday Kai had his teeth done. He still has some baby teeth, (he is 4 years old) and basically he was in pretty good shape, some sharp points filed and a standard float and he is good to go.

Of course, while he was sedated we branded him with our diamond over lazy H brand. Here is what it looked like the next morning.

See that patch of hair missing on his shoulder? Well..... here's why!

They bite each other in the throatlatch area too- they look like a bunch of range mustangs! I'm glad mares don't play like this, I'm sure it's a boy thing.
Kai is smaller than Rio- but he certainly doesn't back down!

I hauled a couple of mares for someone I know who just bought 2 mares, -first time horse owner- and they needed a ride to the dentist. One of the mares intimidates the owner, so I offered to do a loading lesson. As I was leaving I thought- I should take my helmet and a long lead line. Of course by then I was already on the road with my trailer... so I didn't. Always listen to those little voices, it's usually your guardian angel talking!

I decided to load the more difficult mare first: a 9 year old Appaloosa that they bought sight unseen off the internet. The horse transporter they hired to deliver the mare had a tough time loading her, it took him 2 hours and he was P O'd and ready to give up but managed to get her loaded. So I knew there would be issues. The one time I had seen her before this I could see that she had absolutely no respect for a human's personal space.
I set out first by asking her to work a small circle around me, and point her at the trailer to get to stop working; with the idea that the trailer is a good place to be, the place where I leave her alone. This worked for about 30 seconds.... and then she started shouldering into me and trying to walk over me. So I did what I had to with my stock whip to get her off me, and kept trying. She soon figured out that she couldn't intimidate me by crowding me, so she tried her next trick- bowing her neck away from me, stepping towards me to slam me with her shoulder, then whipping her butt around. (Strong mare, by the way! I couldn't hold her.) Remember that long lead rope I should have brought with me? She nailed me and slam dunked me to the ground. Remember that helmet I should have been wearing? My head bounced off the ground as I landed on my right side, looking up at that big butt right above me and hoping to God that she didn't kick my lights out.
Fortunately, I bounced right up again, caught the mare and got another lead rope to tie onto the one I was using to give me a more workable length. Because I was darn sure that she would do it again... and again... and oh yes she tried- but this time I was ready, and flipped the rope around her off side and hauled her head back around so she had to face me. With 2 eyes. Took about 6 more tries on her part before she figured it out that I had her number, instead of the other way around. Then we could make headway with the loading. Lots of patience, rewarding the slightest effort on her part to move towards the trailer, load the head, back off, load the head and neck, back off, load one foot, back off, etc. I did put a treat on the floor of the trailer to encourage her to lower her head and sniff and explore the entrance to the trailer, and once she had inspected it, it only took about 5 more minutes to load her. Total time- half an hour, and she walked in like it was her idea.
After the dentist appointment, when I went to load her, it took less than 10 minutes. I kept her from turning her head away to do the slam dunk trick, and she did try backing and turning away, but got over it pretty quickly. I have recommended to the owners that they send this mare to a local trainer who uses Clinton Anderson's method, and that they take lessons on how to do that with her.

I am a little sore.....  and I'll listen to my guardian angel next time.

Wednesday's Words: Mix'n'match

Today when I checked up on the status of Belle's milk production I was finally able to call it dried up, so it was time to put the fillies and mares together. It went really well, Stella did not try to suck at all. It was interesting watching the herd dynamics.
Out in the field, they all casually just hung out and grazed.

Stella buddied back up to mama Belle, while Josie wandered off to the far end of the field, and Gussie barely moved from the first spot she hit for grazing.

Notice anything?

Yes my big girl is now sporting our brand! We had the horse dentist out yesterday and I took advantage of the sedation to slap my irons on her. By the way, she had a lot of problems, such big hooks she was unable to grind her jaw at all, he did a lot of fixing and she's a little sore today. I can't wait to see what difference it makes to riding her, but I think I'll give her another day off.
Anyway- I digress-back to my story!
The mares headed back to their shelter to see what I was doing, rearranging the feeders- I digress again, I separated Rio and Nitro into different pens now that the fillies and mares can run together- and I needed the feeder to have 2 separate feeding stations for the girls;
Anyway! once they all came into the shelter, it was interesting to watch little Josie find her place in the herd dynamics. Stella is still her BFF:

her go to gal in times of trouble- the kind of trouble that mama Belle can dish out that is. She soon learned that her best course of action was to keep Stella between her little red self and those big freshly maintained teeth.

Properly put in her place, she was allowed a place at the feeder.

I think Josie will end up hanging out with Gussie, who seems to not mind her, then it will be the reds and the blacks!

1500 and a giveaway

Edited: Contest is now closed!
There's been lots going on since my last post, but I've been holding back, waiting for foals to be born because this is my 1500th post, and I wanted to celebrate by showing off a new foal- but alas, the mares have other plans. They are both officially overdue now- and you wanna bet that tomorrow there will be a foal? I have nicknamed them the Titanic Twoesome.

Their big heavy bellies didn't stop them from having a little fun when we finally got a sunny day....

But I'm pretty sure Gussie over did it and slipped in the mud- probably doing this:

I think she slipped in the mud that is in the center of the pen today because she is lame, not wanting to put weight on her left front leg. When she stands on it the muscles from her elbow up start quivering and she takes the weight off that leg, I can't feel any heat but I did find some ropy muscles in the shoulder so I massaged and put anti- inflammatory and anti-spasmodic oils on her. I'm hoping it will pass quickly, and I've confined her back in her foaling stall. Hint- Gussie, it's a FOALING stall!

Anyway, Rio got his teeth floated today, and while he was in lala land we branded him- thanks, Ted!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to see a bald eagle circling right above us, and even with my little pocket camera managed to snap a decent photo.

They are such an awe inspiring bird- but I'm glad little Merle wasn't running around!

So, since this is my 1500th post, I'm going to do a giveaway- a surprise- all you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I will do a random draw for the winner. I must say thank you to all the people who follow or read this blog on a regular basis, it really does inspire me to keep going.
Thanks from all the gang at Diamond Lazy H Quarter Horses!

Sunday Stills- B

I was happy to see that today's Challenge was the letter B; we abound in B's here! There's babies and Beamer and baby butts and boots 'n'bits and all kinds of B's so sit back and enjoy!

There's Beamers Big Branded Butt

Border Collies with their favorite Ball

My custom made Eddie Bigler Boots

Magnolia Blossoms ( Just for Morning Bray, who asked for them)

Some of the nasty Barbed wire I've had to clean up around here

Big daddy Beamer's Butt

and little Kai's Big Butt

Beamer's Bit

Blue and Black Branded Butts

and lots of Border Collie Baby Butts!

And we'll leave you with a Big ole Border Collie grin!

Dentistry and branding

Yesterday was dentist day. But first, a little story.My Wordless Wednesday post, as Fern Valley guessed, showed Coyote Belle- back home. I went to visit her the other day, and she wasn't doing well as the newcomer in a large band of broodmares. The folks who bought her kindly allowed me to buy her back- I'm such a softy, I raised this horse, and this is the second time I've bought her back; the first time was when she was a weanling and I had her sold; the day before she was to go to her new home she got kicked in the shoulder by a big gelding, and couldn't bear weight on her right front for two days. The lady took her home on the understanding that if she didn't come sound, I'd buy her back- which I did, as Belle has permanent damage in her shoulder so that she doesn't travel correctly with that leg; she kinda rolls from the knee and lands the foot from the outside edge to the inside; she can't extend her leg straight forward due to the damage in her shoulder. So this is why she is in my broodmare band; it's not a genetic defect, and she makes nice babies- her first was Sparkle. She is heavy in foal to Beamer for her second baby, due mid April. Anyway, I brought her home the day before the equine dentist got here. We did her first, and it was interesting to see how her teeth were, and it is the most likely cause of her weight loss; basically her jaw was locked up due to wedges and hooks that wouldn't allow her to move her jaw side to side as horses do when they are chewing/grinding their feed before swallowing; she wasn't getting enough hay in her belly because she couldn't chew properly. This is what it looked like inside her mouth.

The wedge can be seen on the last brightly lit tooth- see that point that comes straight down? That is the biggest reason for her problem, as well as the hooks and sharp edges.

Just as a side note, remember that even a horse that is getting plenty of feed can lose weight dramatically if it can't chew.

All the youngsters got their wolf teeth pulled, as well as floating and balancing . This video is of Chickory getting her wolf teeth pulled.

This next video shows Velvet when he was using the power float.

After the teeth were done we branded each one while they were still sedated.

Beamer is modelling his new brand for you.