Velvet is smart

 The barn swallows left yesterday, except for one lonely one twittering away on the wires by the barn. There is no silence, however, as the geese are gathering and filling themselves on the grain left behind by the combines as they prepare for their long migration south. Why is it that geese can't fly without honking? Hmmmm. Other songbirds were gathering on Saturday and by Sunday the robins and Goldfinches were gone too. 

The smoke has returned, painting the evening sun red and the morning sun too stood out red ,although for the life of me I  couldn't  portray its true color in a photo. 

Gussie continues to have opinions about being ridden. When the saddle pad goes on she pouts and fidgets, so I wait until she stops and then I take it off. Eventually she gives up so I saddle her. She does move a bit when I do, but just a little, so I don't do it up right away but wait for her to settle. Such an expressive horse, she leaves no doubt about her feelings!  My key word for this year is patience, and having patience and a peaceful mind is the way to deal with an impatient horse. 

Meanwhile, Velvet is watching carefully, and after having been ponied the other day, she was quite certain that it was just fine for her to wait at the barn while Gussie and I went out onto the 15 acre pasture for a tour. 

We had a nice ride- there sure is a lot of grass left out there so I am letting them back in there to eat it down until the snow flies. 

Velvet was watching from the barn that you can see between Gussie's ears

For perspective, this is a view from where Velvet was, we were out beyond the power pole by the quonset. Gussie was a bit impatient on the way back, she gets into a little slow jog and bows her neck when she wants to hurry but isn't allowed to. Back at the barn we worked on haunches turns, two tracking  and several other things to keep her mind in the middle before letting her stand and relax. 

Yes I know my saddle pad was off center but I decided to ride like that anyway as it was a short ride. 

I however am getting bored with these short rides so I may just have to ride to the mailbox tomorrow for something to do and maybe a tour of the hay field. Ted can keep an eye on Velvet for me. This business of having two horses is not my style, I like to have 3 so that the one left behind has company. I don't like stressing them out if I don't have to and Velvet is too old to make any changes in her. So I have been actively looking around to see if any of Velvet's daughters are for sale. She had 6 fillies and 4 colts before Theo (which makes me more hopeful that her last foal will be a Beamer filly!) So far, one is in New Brunswick, one is a competitive youth barrel horse, two I can't track down the registered owners and two were never transferred into the buyer's name. I do have the person who raised them trying to find out info on them for me. If I end up with one that is rideable, I may retire Gussie and let her have another foal. Unfortunately, she didn't allow Beamer to cover her this summer when she finally came into heat.

We do have a plan to bring a couple of Shayla's colts here for halter training, so that will keep Velvet occupied while I ride. And it will be fun for me!

Some Gussie stuff

 With all the attention focused on Theo lately, I figured I'd better give Gussie some blog time. 

The horse dentist came out and did her teeth, she definitely needed doing. I like that he doesn't sedate or restrict the horse from moving, and only uses power tools if he has to remove something that would take too long to hand rasp. 

She was very good for him. It did take her a day or so to get used to her new mouth. 

Since my last ride was a while ago, I do have an excuse other than foal watch. Not so much an excuse as a reason- I am having a major issue with a torn rotator cuff in my left shoulder- and me being left handed, it really limits my ability to do anything that requires any extension of my arm, especially lifting the saddle onto a 15.2  plus hand high mare. That last ride I managed to get her saddled but then it all got worse. I was beginning to get healed up so I figured I would try again. Which may or may not have been a brilliant idea! 

I led her through Velvet's pen to see how Velvet would react to having another mare in the vicinity of her foal. She did herd Theo away, but I think in a few days I will be able to turn them out together, as Theo is getting more independent and Velvet isn't getting too excited about him being away from her. 

Then saddling her, Gussie stepped away from me a couple of times but I did manage to get her standing still and got her saddled. (Ouch.)

In the round pen, I checked to see if she was with me or thinking about her herd- and got some beautiful connection. I love it when you can ask them to step forward with a merest suggestion and then get the foot to stop in mid action and ask them to reverse direction- and they do! Yay Gussie! 

My purpose for this ride was to check fence- I always like to ride with purpose- on the 15 acres that we fenced off one side with electric tape. It was down again and I wanted to see how much repair would be needed. 

We may have to replace the whole bottom strand, it has several week spots. 

It's such a joy to ride a solid free moving horse! The rest of the fenceline was all intact so we headed back.

 This pasture has a lot of old grass that is laid over, we should harrow it if we can find someone with a big set of harrows. We will fix that fence next week and then I want to turn Beamer out on it for a few hours a day- he will love exploring it! 

The jury is out on whether or not Gussie is in foal, remember we did breed her to Beamer after she foaled last summer, but I am starting to think she's open, 

It is really hard to tell with her though until she's about 2 months away from foaling- and she hasn't come into heat yet this year. She would be due mid to late August. 

Speaking of foals.... can't go away without a cute Theo photo!

That white chin!

A ride on Big Red

 I had to take advantage of the sunshine yesterday to saddle up Gussie and go for a little putt. The day before I took her for a stroll in hand up the driveway to gauge her emotional state - she had been calling out for Ruby when she left so a stroll was how I wanted to see if she was calmed down enough to ride. Need not have worried, it was a lovely stroll.

She was a bit head up as she looked around, but never put a foot wrong. 

Turned her loose in the round pen to see if the energy was the same and yes she was pretty relaxed. 

So the next day we saddled up and off we went. No prep in the round pen, but it is where I mount up as my step stool is frozen into the ground there. So that gave me the opportunity to work her on opening the gate and ride through it- she tends to get in a bit of a hurry so she got the one step at a time treatment and relaxed into it. 

My route was a short one, up the long driveway and into the hayfield for a little tour. 

Here are a couple videos that speak better than words. 

Yes that is a long driveway!

Out onto the hayfield. We still have 2 ft. of snow out there that is a bit crusty, but where the tractor plowed to get at the feed bales it was bare and getting really soft. I may have to wait a bit to ride out there once the snow goes as she could sink in too far. Don't want cranky farmers  complaining about pock marks in their field! 

I have started prepping the foaling pen, raking up the old feed and the manure so that the ice underneath will melt. We have 5 days of snow in the forecast starting on the Vernal Equinox- go figure, spring comes in with a remnant of winter- but by Tuesday the 26th it starts to warm up again. Hopefully NO MORE SNOW after that!!!! Because , you know, Velvet is due mid April, so just a month from now. 

I will be keeping a close eye on her as she starts to bag up- I have been checking, but no sign of it yet. I have never foaled out a 24 year old mare so I am hoping all will go well. I think this is her 10th foal so she knows her job. 

Stay tuned for the foaling contest by the way, I have a really nice prize for it. 😏

We go out walking

 The last couple of days with Ruby have been pretty good! Due to the unpredictable weather- bad thunderstorms and muggy heat then rain and cold days, even had the furnace on, I have been able to work her mostly in the mornings. Fine with me, I'm a morning person. 

Ruby, on the other hand, seems to enjoy a mid morning nap.

Haltered her as she lay there.... this is a first. Apparently I am in her good books now. 

My routine is to work her first in the round pen, playing around with different patterns on the little wagon wheel style course, then open the gate and not let her go through; work her again and then ask her to go through, one step at a time. No rushing or anticipating allowed. 

She is greatly improving on moving off my leg, I can pretty much steer her without the reins, but can also steer her with just the reins. She is a bit heavy on the reins and  I found that I was relying a bit too much on the reins causing that heaviness. I found this on Rudy Horsemanship's page and realised that I was guilty of just that!

"This morning a student said, “But he’s hanging on my left rein!”I replied, “Do a quick give.”
Rider gives and retakes, and the horse immediately softens.
I asked, “Tell me again who was hanging on the left rein?”

So with that in mind, I lightened up my contact and had a much happier horse. That being said, I do have to teach her to soften in the bridle, and it's slowly coming. I got some nice trot transitions where she was carrying herself in balance and the result was a nice smooth transition. Now to work on rating her speed! All that will come once I get out of the round pen and give her room to move. 

Speaking of which, we did just that today. I have been doing little rides out of the pen and letting her go back in, where she gets worked, then out again and today we only had to go in twice. I pointed her at the pasture gate and off we went! 

Spot the mosquito?

The first few steps were a bit up headed as she sussed out the view. then she relaxed and off we went. 

Thumper was out there mousing, and refused to move as we rode past him, we actually had to go around him! That is a very self assured cat. 

I finally made it to the river! It crested about 2 weeks ago and has dropped about a foot. Ruby was relaxed while we were moving but when we stop she gets a bit looky and wants to move her feet and look around. Time to really put some miles on her!

On the way back, there was that darn cat again in exactly the same spot and he wasn't about to move for us again. 

It was a good ride, finally. It's so nice to have gotten past the road blocks she set up! I have the feeling that Ruby is one of those horses that does best with regular riding. 

Got one more thing to share with you- saw the darndest thing today; this comes under Things You See From the Gazebo. 

This young buck waded upriver for a long ways; he seemed to be quite enjoying himself! I could hear splashing and thought it was just him crossing the river, but to my surprise he hove into view walking upstream! And kept on going , right past me and up around the bend. We have been seeing him around here the last few days; the does are chasing him off as they have their fawns now. 

We have seen one fawn and are watching for more - I want photos!

At long last.....

 I got to go on a trail ride. The last one I went on was a solo ride on Gussie on Dec. 18, 2020. 

It was a blustery day, gusty and chilly winds here at the farm, but I figured since my destination was in the forest we would be fairly protected from the worst of it. 

I was invited by Bandits person, Lyn, to go on a trail ride with the guy (Dave) who did all the saddle work for me. We all met up at Dave's at 1 pm . I saddled Sophie before hauling her, she did take a minute to load (I had to step in with her) and when I unloaded her at our destination I could see that her neck was sweaty. I didn't have her tied in; sometimes with nervous haulers it's better to let then find their own preferred spot in the trailer. 

My work at home with the mounting block paid off; she was easy to position. We went into the round pen (all 3 of us) and strolled around in there to get a feel for how Sophie was ; the two gents I was riding with were very kind and willing to make this a good experience for Sophie, as we had no idea how she was going to behave.  They looked after us! 

Sophie was pretty looky but not spooky, just looking at everything and considering everything, just the way she is at home. So off we went! The route took us down a gravel road for a couple of kilometers and then up onto old logging roads and through the bush. 

I was quite surprised that Sophie wanted to be in front! 

The start of the ride, going down the gravel road. Looking at the water in the ditch.

We encountered a couple of vehicles coming towards us, who very kindly stopped as we went by, including one who was running two dogs behind them; they popped the dogs into their truck as we went by. Very considerate!

Once we got off the road and onto the brush trails I asked Sophie to hold back a bit so Dave could lead. 

Sophie, for the most part, was ok with riding beside him but definitely didn't want to be at the back of the pack.

That turned out ok though, because Bandit preferred to tag along at the rear of the pack for the most part. 

We rode for about two hours. I have to say, I was quite impressed with Sophie 💗

She was steady, marched out with confidence, looked at everything but didn't get too concerned. One time she deked to the left when she was surprised to see a culvert , but it wasn't a huge jump, just a couple quick steps left. She handled the terrain well, including a lot of standing water on the backroads. 

That was just one of the long puddles we went through. That one had hidden slippery ruts that had the horses slipping a bit, but she handled it well. 

Overall, I have to say I was really pleased with Sophie. I felt safe and comfortable on her. We do have to work on getting her soft in the face, but that will come with time and schooling. 

As we got back down onto the road, she got looky again as we passed by dwellings that had a lot of stuff to see. Back at the trailer, I tied her to the side of it, and went to look at some of Dave's horses. When I got back to her I could see that she had pulled back; she was completely out of sight of all the horses so I think she pulled because of not wanting to be alone. Another thing we have to work on. 

This time for the trip home I tied her in the trailer; facing rearward seems to be her spot of choice. 

Overall, it was a great day! And, I have been invited to come ride there anytime. 

Let's ride!

 The last day or two we were hammered with driving rain, sleet, a bit of hail and strong gusty winds. Not conducive to doing anything with the horses. I did a lot of online stuff with the Warwick Schiller program I signed up for, now just waiting for the winds to die down so I can put it into practice. 

A lot of this program is about discovering where the horse's mind is and ways to get their attention on you, and to let them know that you are aware of what is going on with them. 

It's actually simple, and less is more. 

Today, the weather calmed down a bit, still a bit stormy but only in patches. This afternoon I saddled up miss Sophie to see if we could get any farther away from home. I used the advance and retreat program that I first learned many years ago from following the teachings of John Lyons, and now many others . 

Ride out a ways, turn and circle part way back; ride a little farther, turn and circle, etc. etc. It did get some nice forward from Sophie. 

We headed down to the other side of the pond this time, the area where I have walked her in hand plenty of times. 

And then we hit the wall of her comfort zone. This reminds me of the song lyric, Don't go down to the woods today...

I think part of what is going on with her is that there is a lot of activity down on the dyke, which is slightly visible through the trees . Lots of dog walkers and people riding. And this mare is very alert to her surroundings. She's confidant when I am leading her, but not so much when I'm riding her. At this point we just sat and dwelled a bit, then headed back. 

As we headed back we were hit with a squall of wind and sleet. Some horses would get all prancy and snorty, but not miss Sophie. She just bent her neck into it and steadily marched into the wind and sleet. Good girl Sophie!

As I turned her into her pen (after a bit of hand grazing) she went on full alert staring down towards the dyke. Beamer did too, so I knew there was some kind of activity going on. 

I hung out for a bit and watched. It was worth a few photos ops! My brother in law gave me a little pocket camera, a Canon Power Shot S50  that I had with me so I managed a couple of action shots. 

Tail up and trotting and snorting!

Aaaand airborne!

Eventually even I could see what was going on down there- there were some girls loping their horses along the dyke. 

I am really looking forward to tomorrow- we are loading up and heading to the indoor arena!

Things

As the mild weather continues, and the sun was shining, I took a quick little ride on Gussie, just enjoying the late fall scenery and marvelling at how each season has it's own beauty. There was a little bit of snow left from a few days ago, what the rain didn't melt away; just enough to cushion the rocky ground along the top of the dyke.

Then there were the rocks-  I marvelled at how life can grow on pure stone.

Around here there is a painted rock meme going...

Apparently you are supposed to turn them over to get the cute message on the other side, but since I was riding bareback that wasn't an option.

The river still runs clear and cold....

Our long shadow from the late afternoon sun....

Ponderosa pine with water droplets caught my eye.....

as did the way the sun highlighted just two tree trunks.

Just some of the things that delighted me on our ride- as well as how easy it was to guide Gussie with just a light pressure from the calf of my leg. I'm sure she was enjoying it as much as I was!

Riding day 58

Contemplating this changing world

It has been a bit since I posted, because I am trying to figure out which direction my journey with horses is going given the current world situation. Economic collapse, social upheaval and persecution… it's enough to make your head swim. 

How can I justify breeding more horses if there are no buyers and I don't have a huge ranch to let them live out their lives? 

So far, I have one concrete decision- I will not be breeding the mares back next spring. These 2 foals on their way may well be the last Beamer babies to be born. He will be 20 next year, and his arthritis while seeming to be at bay, has now started to appear in his other knee. I have no idea how long he will be sound and happy. So it is one season at a time with him. 

My mares have some age on them- 17, 18 and 19 next year. I may try to rehome the 2 broodmares and just have Gussie to ride and Moondance to be my replacement riding horse when he is old enough.

Gussie's health is an issue; she has fecal water syndrome and I am thinking it is because of a hind gut issue related to fresh grass and what little alfalfa is in the hay I have- she has always been sensitive to both fresh grass and alfalfa. I wasn't able to buy straight grass this year. This issue has caused another issue with her- a heavy vaginal discharge which is probably because of the fecal water entering via the vulva. I'm pretty sure she is no longer pregnant to Drifter. A blessing in disguise.

That is 2 days from the last butt wash I gave her. Poor Gussie... I have to braid her tail otherwise it gets really dirty. I sure hope it goes away soon. It seems to come in cycles, has been going on since spring so I am wondering if it is related to her heat cycles too.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying a warm November- it is the nicest November we have had in a while- our grass is still green and growing and to my surprise my magnolia bush decided to start budding out. I hope it will be ok next spring. 

It was such a nice day that I saddled up the ole red mare and ponied Moondance. 

Off to the river we went- Moondance didn't want to go in at first but finally I tricked him into it and he was fine. 

 Lovely setting sun highlighting Gussies carrot top mane

The river still runs clear, not a hint of ice now. But with December almost upon us I expect that will change soon.

Riding day 54

Happy happy

One of the good things that has happened this year is that Beamer's soundness has improved. He is no longer foot sore, and his arthritic knee seems to be holding it's own, no further advancement in the calcification. The biggest improvement came when I started him on Protandim, aka the Little Yellow Pill aka Nrf2. Literally within 2 days there was a marked improvement. Before that I was trying Prevacox- and y'all know how much I distrust pharmaceuticals; but I was at the point that something needed to change. 2 weeks of that treatment did absolutely nothing, so I switched to Protandim. I had been taking it myself for a couple of months and was pleased with how it helped my overall wellbeing, so figured I had nothing to lose.  I am so glad I switched! Other than Protandim he also gets 2 ounces of Camelina oil on his morning feed, and as a topical dressing on his knee I mix 4 drops of Clove essential oil with about 2 times as much of my homemade sticky bud oil. (The sticky buds of poplar trees mixed with Camelina oil or olive oil for a couple of weeks and then strained). All of these have anti inflammatory properties. 

Anyway... here is the proof about how good he is feeling.

This is the river crossing that I took the girls to on the beginning of our last ride. I didn't want to overwork Beamer's knee, so I kept the ride short. Probably about a half hour. He was happy, I was happy and it was a great day!

Riding day 53

Another autumn ride

A couple of the girls hauled here and we went for a ride to show them where the river crossings are and where they can access them from the other side. I live along the Goat River, on the north side of us is a high bank that divides us from the town of Ericson/Creston and across the river there is a climb that brings you up onto the hayfields and orchards of Lister. Accessing these crossings from there wasn't always possible because of the landowners, but they have recently put in a gate at one of them and allow horses to cross through- we are all appreciative! This allows me to ride from my place to a couple of friends places in about 15 minutes or so without having to hook up the trailer and haul. And now they can ride over here too. 

Happy smiling faces high above the first river crossing

Coming down the hill to the second river crossing, We usually stop here to take a photo, in case it looks familiar.

Once back on my side of the river I took them out on the lease ride, and at the end of it I had cleared the way through the narrow gate and placed some rocks in strategic spots so we could ride down across the rip rap that lines the dyke; there was one spot where the rocks were small and made a narrow path down to a rideable area, but there were a few holes that could trap a hoof so the day before I filled them all in. Just beyond this gate is a huge mudslide from a few years ago that obliterated any trails, so now we were exploring.

We rode as far as we could  between the high bank and the river, with the idea that we were looking for a way to scale that bank on horseback so that the lady who lives in Erickson (on the blue roan) cold ride down from her place. We had to turn back at one point or ride through the river to continue, so we called it. On the way back we did some bushwacking closer to the high bank to see if we had missed any possible trails. 

The turnback spot

In this photo you can see the mudslide in the background. One of the riders had scrambled up a little rocky draw to see if it was passable on horseback; it wasn't.

Over all it was a great ride, lots of fun and adventure. First river crossing for P, the lady on the blue roan, who is my barefoot trimmer and moved out here from Quebec.

A note about that blue roan, it's a lovely quiet mare, about 18 years old (all the horses pictured are `17, 18, and 18). 

An interesting thing about that blue roan- it's a Nokota Horse Check out the link, it's an interesting story.

Riding day 52

Fun with Moondance

Now we enter into the fun part of working with Moondance. Let the sacking out and obstacle courses begin!

One of my tools is a raggy old white tarp. You may remember past posts like when I was working with Drifter with this tarp. It's one of those tarps that has a fibre woven through it so it doesn't easily get holes in it, like for example from little hooves! Perfect for little creatures to stomp, chew, and drag.

First I drag the tarp into the pen while leading him, to gauge whether he is curious or fearful.

Well that's good! Curious colts are much easier to work with than fearful reactive ones. 

Next step is … well a step! will he walk over it? 

That didn't take long! From there, I picked it up and bunched it up and let him get used to the sound and feel of it, before putting it on his back. 

Then it was time to see if he would walk with it on his back. 

Instinct took over.....

so I spent more time rubbing him with it, and draping it on him before asking him to move with it on one more time.  

I love how unconcerned he was when it dropped off him. He is such a good minded colt! 

We ended the session there. 

The next day, I ponied him on the trails- out on the lease, and it was such a lovely day. Being a Monday, I was pretty sure we wouldn't see anyone walking their dogs, and I was right. It was such a perfect ride. I had done the Masterson Method on Gussie the day before,- I only got to step 3, but got tons of releases- and she was really relaxed. Such an enjoyable ride. 

We went to the end and checked out the gate that leads to places I haven't explored yet, I plan to come with an ax and clear the brush to make it easier to get through this very narrow gate, then take Gussie by herself and do some exploring.

On the way back, Gussie stepped up the pace a little but, without breaking into her usual little jog. Moondance had to lengthen his stride to keep up, but he didn't trot. Pretty good for a colt who will only be 6 months old in a couple of days.

Back home, , standing tied for a while before being turned back into pasture.

Just a couple o' good horses. 

Riding day 51