Sunday sillies

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.

New halter design

I decided to change the placement of the knots on my halters. I didn't like the way the cheek rope would slide up by the eyes when turning the horse, so I made some modifications in the measurements. I'll have Beamer model his new halter for you.

Beamer? *Ahem, Beamer* time to come out of your snug house and pose for us.

Yes, Beamer, you look awesome in blue.

Yes, there is still room for those trademark Beamer yawns!

Oh allright, you can go back to sleep now!

Here are the changes I made: Dropped the noseband knots- the old design had them 9 or 10 inches apart, I now do 12 - 14 inches, depending on the horse. I want the knots to sit below the top of the cheekbone, in the hollow of the jowls. Of course, to compensate I also shortened the measurement to the fiador knot, it's 7 inches here but I think I could go 6. The distance from the throatlatch knot under the jaw to the  cheek knots is shorter too, to keep those cheek side pieces from sliding up towards the eye.

Here is a comparison photo of my old design,  I actually could have had this halter done up tighter as the jaw knot is too far forward. 

Little differences, but they make the halter work much better. 

Rainy Days

The hay in the fields is prime for cutting.... but the weather isn't cooperating. Heavy rain, until Friday- so a lot of the hay is falling over. The humidity is so high here we need at least 10 days of sunshine in the forecast to even think about cutting. My hay supplier is very experienced with local weather, and he always puts up good hay- so I hope he does again this year.
Even my roses look a little sad.

This kind of weather makes me think of one of my favourite Mandy Burnett songs.

Sunday Sillies

Hoffmans minerals are an important part of my feeding program. I think it's a good part of why Kai is looking normal after only one month; his body score is great, he is shiny and has lost all those tufts of winter hair that were hangin' in there.
I think Kai agrees.

The bratz

I often post still shots of Rio and Kai playing and rearing and biting at each other- easy shots to get because they indulge in this behaviour a lot! So here is a video that shows them playing their game:

They both have hair missing on their necks! But they love this game.
Something got their attention when I went out to bring them in- I think a quad loaded with people and dogs.

 Kai is looking almost normal now. I finally got my truck back from the shop, so it's time to start hauling him to the local arena and round pen. I don't have my round pen up any more, I had to use it to make stalls so now I have to haul to do any training.

Whatcha think Kai? Ready to go to work?

I see

Ever wonder about training issues and the horse's vision? Most of us horse people are aware that horses have mainly monocular vision, but remembering that when we are training is another story. We get frustrated when a horse does something well going one way, but going the opposite way it's like it hasn't learned a darn thing. Here is an excellent article (thanks to my friend Carol for posting the link on Facebook)  that explains what the horse can see, and how it sees.  It's interesting to me what it says about collection, and about circling.

Read a good blog

Here is another blog I have found- the Cowboy Dressage blog! Check it out!

In which Kai wipes out

The horses were doing their usual play and morning frolic, but the grass is really wet with heavy dew, as poor Kai found out the hard way!

Who, me?

Josie

I trimmed Josie's tosies today. I think she likes it. Even got a flying lead change!

Sunday Ride

Sunday afternoon, I was weighing up my options... trim Josie's feet or ride Beamer... trim Josie or ride Beamer.... well you can see what won!

We were eyeballing the hay field that we used to ride on; it has just been freshly planted.

However, we did find a way to ride across it, there is a haul road for the fertilizer truck right across the middle of the field.

Oh how lovely it would be to gallop there, huh Beamer?

This is the road, it used to go only partway through but now goes all the way to the dyke.

Down near the banks of the dyke we found the remains of a hunter's elk carcass.

Then we cut across where there was a quad trail through the crop and headed back home. The trees in the distance above Beamer's ears are in our yard. A perfectly lovely Sunday ride!

Looking better!

Kai still has a lot of filling out to do but his body score is really improving. He only has a little bit of his winter hair left; tufts and scattered hairs here and there.

The hollows are filling out, and his eyes are bright and happy.
This is what he looked like, the day I brought him home, 3 weeks ago:

Looking much better now!

Amber's big day

Yesterday was all about Amber. I loaded her up and drove up to my friend Janice's place, where she got to meet new dogs- Janice's 2 collies which are a daughter of Reba and a daughter of Tess- and Tucker, a big yellow lab. Amber wasn't too sure about that!  She wanted to hide behind me, but eventually figured it out that they weren't going to pester her. I left her tied up so that she could go in  the truck if she wanted, while I spent some time with Janice in her greenhouse.
After that, it was time to take her to meet sheep. We went to the beautiful Pine Butte Ranch, where  we met up with George, to assess Amber's attitude and aptitude as a stock dog.

George had his 2 dogs with him; Kate, who is a champion, and her daughter Nan, and he sent Kate out to bring in the sheep. He asked me about Amber, and asked what I wanted to learn about her, which basically was whether or not I would be able to handle this dog or whether she would be too hard headed for me.
Once the sheep were in and penned, George had Kate move them a bit, slowly and quietly, while we watched Amber's reaction. He put her on a 50 ft. string, just in case he needed to get her attention. She did look at them, head down in good Border Collie style, but spent a lot of time roaming around the pen, sniffing all the dried up sheep poo and occasionally stopping to watch the other dogs. While we were doing this, we worked on her recall, which I have been having trouble with. George is very soft spoken, and he would just say her name, and if she ignored him he would give a tug on the string, say her name again, and when she looked at him he would praise her. It worked great; he only had to tug a couple of times before she got it and would come walking back. Everything was kept low key, no excitement and running around.

Meanwhile, the sheep were just standing still, carefully watched by Kate and Nan. After a bit, Amber really started looking at them.

She made no move towards them, just lay there and watched them.

Amber watching, as Kate flanks.

The result of the day's assessment is that Amber is very smart, independent, has natural ability and desire to work. I need to work on her recall, and it's time to separate her from the other collies at home, so that I can keep her focus on me as the one who provides her with the activity she needs, which will help her to get over that independent streak. I also need to get a good lie down on her.

It was a good session. After that, the dogs took the sheep to another field where there are 2 large rocks that George uses as a marker to move the sheep between- practice for moving sheep through gates or panels.
He worked both dogs individually and I found it really interesting that each dog knew when not to work, even though George was giving whistles or vocal commands to the other dog. He says it's all about intent, which is the mental communication between handler and dog. We talked a bit about that, and compared it to horse training where there is a lot of mental communication; but with horses, it's direct; the handler is in physical contact or close to the horse and with dogs you have to be able to have that communication at a distance.

Kate watches while Nan works.

Lovely Kate! She is related to my dog Tess- her mother is Tess's grandmother.

Anyway, I'll work on those basic things with Amber, and probably take her about once a month to keep her looking at sheep, and in the fall, I should have enough basics on her to actually get her started working.
Won't be too much of a hardship coming to this beautiful place!

Josie instigates.

Yesterday when I led the horses out to pasture, Josie got snarky with Kai; pinning her ears and giveing him the stink eye and curled lip. Now, I don't tolerate 'tude from my horses when they are being led- too easy for me to get hurt if one of them leaps to get away. So, little miss high and mighty had to work, after I turned Kai loose. I worked on the basics; giving the hip, giving the shoulder,  circling, backing etc. Heeheehee, she sure wasn't expecting that! When I turned her loose, she went right over to the boys and pestered them; if Josie ain't happy ain't nobody happy!

She made sure the boyz got going too.

She wasn't about to let Rio win this race!

Now that's a funny way of galloping Josie! And no, it doesn't make you as tall as your brother!

Meanwhile, Kai was doing his own thing....

Grab a bite of grass and run like the wind!

Rio was getting a little tired of all the shenanigans;

he can strut his stuff anytime as far as I'm concerned! What a beautiful boy.

Finally... peace in the pasture!

Sunday Silence