3 weeks old

Yes, his li'l cuteness is 3 weeks old today.
I started his morning with a halter lesson. He decided to pull away before I got the halter done up, so we had a mini work on him allowing me to catch him. He is pretty friendly overall. One of the things I do, now that he is a little older, is that I don't go to the butt when I approach him. No more butt scratches. I go to the wither, and slide my arm around him and give him chest scratches with one hand and neck/wither scratches with the other- which he loves. Then I slide the nose piece over his nose and quietly do it up. The second try he stood quietly for the process.
Here is how the session went:

I was watchful to make sure the rope didn't slide onto his eye; I have to adjust the knots that go down to the throatlatch a bit lower.

I like to do a photo shoot at 3 weeks, and he didn't disappoint. 

On with the show!

Swapping directions like a pro!

He's gonna have some reach in his spins!!!

Muscling up and look at that lovely head and neck.

And that booty! 'Nuff said!

Good thing his mama loves him.

Speaking of mama, today she got to go back under saddle. She seemed happy to have something to do. I will be riding her regularly as Shayla has someone coming to look at her; one of the ladies who was interested in her from the first time I put her up for sale. She will be here on the 22nd and wants to take a light ride on her. 

Right on

Since my last post I have done more work with Tumbleweed. I had a friend over to hold him in halter while I finished trimming his mama. Dave is 80 years old now, and he is a good hand- gentle but not a pushover. He grew up with horses on the farm and has lots of stories about those days. He loves coming over to help out with the horses. At first Tumbleweed objected to having the halter on, he was all over the pen until Dave ran the lead rope around his butt. It had the usual calming effect and to make things easier we took him into the stall and I trimmed his mama just outside the stall.
It had been about a week since I had done much with him, so I figured it was a good idea to do more daily work with him. The next day I haltered him and mama and led them out on grass. He is pretty good when he is with her, I guess it just makes sense to him to follow her.
The following day they got turn out; I don't turn them out on rainy days but it had dried up enough to let them loose.

I wish I had started the video a little quicker as he did a sliding stop and roll back right in front of me. He's an agile little guy!

Today I stepped it up a bit and caught him and worked in the pen without having mama haltered too. It was pretty obvious that he is a left sided horse, he wanted nothing to do with seeing me out of his right eye. So... guess what we worked on....  I spent about 15 minutes working with him, used the butt rope so he couldn't just back away from me, or his other favourite trick of putting his head up and swinging his butt to me while stiffening his neck. Once he was calm about me being on the right and leading him from the right, and standing quietly, I turned him loose. 

Then this evening at chore time, I caught him again just to make sure that he had absorbed the things we worked on earlier..

And look at that... he remembered and was pretty much good with it, except for the little backing up spree. It is so important to use the butt rope with foals when they don't quite get things, it seems to connect their body to their brain. You don't need to keep it on the whole time, just enough to get them thinking.
I have filed his registration now, should get his papers in a couple of weeks. It took a while to capture that 3/4 pose they want for the papers but I think I nailed it with this photo:

It's probably the one that will go on his papers. I am excited to see what his colour will look like once he sheds all that baby fuzz! You can see hints of the dark from his knees down and the wither patch of darker hair. The leg stripes are faint right now, hopefully they will be more visible once he sheds out, probably around August.

Trails and swirls

Last week I rode Gussie on a short trail ride and followed with some schooling. I'm happy with her progress and love how light she is to the leg. I can almost go bridleless and steer! Not quite there yet though.
Today's ride was just trails. She is in heat, and kept thinking she should turn back to the herd, but it was more a hesitation in her step than an actual turn. Once we got a little farther away she settled right in.

The trails are so pretty right now. The river has gone down quite a bit too.

As usual, I could have ridden much longer; I'm going to have to haul somewhere to do that.

Gussie is looking mighty fine right now! My strawberry roan is all sleek and shiny and at the weight I like on her.

Linda and I have had some discussion on swirls, and I checked Gussie over for swirls today. I knew she had pretty much a normal swirl on her forehead, but I found a few more.

She has this one on her windpipe, and this is the info I found on it:
Windpipe
- Swirls located on the trachea or underside of the windpipe were seen as a sign of prosperity and good fortune in olden days.
- These are entirely different from the long 'wheat' coming out of the chest extending almost to the throatlatch.

Then she has this one on her throatlatch.

Throatlatch
- Swirls under the throatlatch seem to draw the head up. They can help keep a horse from getting the head too low if they have good poll swirls.
- Swirls under the throatlatch without poll swirls may create a high head carrage, and/or a lack of flexibility in the throatlatch and/or poll.
- It is preferred these swirls be evenly spaced under the throatlatch and not all off to one side.

As you can see in the above photo, she does carry her head high. She rarely carries her head level when we are riding. She struggles to lower her head on command, like when I'm bridling her.

This next photo is on her other side, so you can see that it is even on both sides.

There is one more swirl:

This little half swirl on her cheek.

Cheek
- In the olden days, a swirl on the cheek was a bad sign of debt and ruin.

Had to laugh at that one because this horse has made me quite a bit of money, from selling her twice to selling her blue roan foals. I guess the Windpipe swirl counter balances that one!

For those interested in the source of my info, it is Fox Point Farm

My take on Gussie's personality and ability: 

She is trustworthy, a wee bit emotional. She doesn't get upset easily. She does flex at the poll but doesn't carry it that way for long. She is willing and is a joy to ride. Super light to leg and rein aids.

All in all I'm really happy with her!

One little Tumbleweed update:

Toofers!!!!

Riding day 29 and 30

Keeping busy

It's been a busy few days... got Rosalee's front feet trimmed; had to wait several times for Tumbleweed to have lunch.... hauled a ton of square bales into the barn, worked some more on my flower gardens, entertained some folks over the weekend to celebrate my husband's birthday.... went to town on Monday and spent time with my friend Janice for her birthday.
I have been trying to get photos for Tumbleweed's registration, easier said than done! Still working on the 3/4 front shot.
I got his dna test back, he is definitely a dunskin, which is a buckskin,dun, who carries the cream dilute gene.

He is eating hay all the time now, and I checked in his mouth and his molars are in. (ouch....). He likes to lay in the hay pile and have a nap while mama tries to eat... silly boy!

Mama is letting him wander farther away all the time. He zips around the pen, and she just keeps eating.They are getting daily turnout, so he has lots of room to run and build those muscles! He is filling out nicely.

Mesa is really growthy right now. She needs to fill out some more and put some weight on those ribs, but I don't like giving too much supplements to growing horses when they are getting lots of fresh grass. She'll fill out a bunch over the summer.

I have tentatively put her up for sale too. I am not in a hurry to sell her, but if the right person was interested in giving her a show home I would consider it. Meanwhile I will have fun teaching her things this summer. Ponying and more obstacle work are next for  her, and this fall she will learn to carry a saddle.

Gussie can do some obstacle work too.

Turnout time

The water in the pasture finally went down enough that I could give the mares a couple of hours in the long grass- I want them to eat it a bit before it all heads out.

Heads down and off they went! Meanwhile, I gave Rosalee and Tumbleweed a short turnout in the mare pen. Rosalee was sure happy to get to stretch her legs!

Blogger visit!

Tumbleweed got to meet a Very Important Person today.

He was being his normal sweet self....

Some of you may recognise this lady- She is Linda from Beautiful Mustang blog. I live nearly 3 hours from her, and she decided that she needed to come and meet this li'l cutey. I have wanted to meet her for years now as she lives so close, and today was the day! I love meeting other bloggers, it's like meeting an old friend.
Of course the visit started with paying attention to Mr. Handsome himself.

We had a really good visit, it was nice to also meet one of her friends who came along. We swapped stories, and spent some time in my hideout away from the heat of the day.

More time playing with Tumbleweed,

and her decision was made. At weaning time, Tumbleweed will be heading south to one of the best homes I could wish for him. He's a lucky boy!

And of course we will all be able to follow his progress on her blog. 

Some firsts for baby.

First time tasting salt:

First drink of water:

and first taste of green stuff!

Since he did well in the halter I took him and mama out of the pen so she could graze. He isn't leading really well yet at least not consistently, but enough that he followed his mama.

He gets cuter by the minute!

Tumbleweed day 3

Well it has been a busy few days! What with the water rising and pouring rain I didn't get a lot of horse stuff done other than looking after baby and mama.
Rosalee had a few issues with nursing as she was pretty sore. When Tumbleweed bunts during nursing it was painful for her for the first 2 days so a few times I haltered her and made her stand still so he could have a nice long drink. Here is a video of her being all stressed out and not letting baby nurse- I put them back in the stall after that and made her stand for him.

She is also a very protective mama, nobody is allowed to look at her baby! At least, for the first 2 days, then today she was considerably more chilled out.

This was today, a much milder version of "don't mess with my baby" than even this morning when she charged the fence at Mesa.
By this afternoon she seemed to have it all figured out.

The rain has stopped and they got to spend a lot of time outside today. Tumbleweed had lots of naps, interspersed with sprints ....

 and visits to the milk bar.

He also had his first halter lesson today as I want to be able to lead him and mama out for some hand grazing.

I also pulled hair for his colour test and herda test. Ever tried to pull hair on a baby? It is so short and slick it's almost impossible! He absolutely would not let me pull tail hairs,  but didn't mind as much with the mane hairs. I had the halter on him and his butt in a corner; poor li'l guy! As soon as I get the results I will send in his registration.

Are you ready.....

for an overload of cute foal photos?

I hope so....

But first we have some business to take care of. I had my husband do the random draw and the winner is Crystal! Keep an eye on your mailbox Crystal!

One more cute pic before I go do the morning chores (armed with camera of course...)

He has arrived.

Yes, it's a colt- no surprise there as Beamer throws a higher percentage of colts- and he is a beauty! He arrived at 3 AM, May 16 (this morning).
He is a dun, possibly red dun, possibly classic dun and he may carry the cream dilute gene too.I will be sending off his dna for testing in a couple of days.

Rosalee was having a hard time pushing him out so I held traction on his legs until the head passed , and then she stood up, and knowing what was coming, I cradled him and the rest of him came out into my arms and I eased him onto the ground. So he was literally born into my arms 💖
There is a little story with that. While I was thinking up names a month or so ago, the one that popped in my mind was Midnight Tumbleweed, and I checked, it is available, and since he tumbled into my arms that is his name.
I called Shayla who happened to be in town, as soon as I knew the mare was in labour and she got to be there for the whole birth.
So- here is Tumbleweed (which may or may not get shortened to Tweed).

He was born outside on the straw bedding pack that I had put out for Rosalee.

 He is a sturdy colt, he whinnied within 2 minutes of being born, and was making sucking efforts even before he found out how to stand. Once he could stand we shuffled him and his mama into the foaling shelter. It didn't take him long to figure out how to nurse. In fact, everything was pretty much text book, he passed his meconium , mama passed the placenta, and everything is going the way it should so far. Rosalee is a good mama.

He has Beamer's eyes and 4 socks to go with that blaze face.

He's a very friendly little guy too!

So I guess you all know what I'll be doing for the next few days!

Since we didn't have a clear winner in the foaling contest, I will do a random draw later today to determine the winner.

Still waiting... and riding

While we await the release of Rosalee's hostage, come take a ride with me, down to the river and through the bush. This ride was to test out a pair of Easy Boot Gloves on Gussie- apparently  they fit right and worked well.

When we got back, I haltered Mesa and we ponied her in the mare pen. She did well, a few more times in the pen and I'll start taking her on some of the trails.

For those of you whose foaling contest guesses have passed, leave a comment on this post and I will update them for you. I have received a few by email,  if that works for you, or even on Messenger. She is pretty close, has colostrum but no wax yet. Can't wait!

Riding day 28

Down the trail and up a tree

After a few days of rain I got in a nice trail ride on Gussie a couple of days ago. I had given her some time off partly because of the rain and partly because I just trimmed her front feet and had to take them quite short to get rid of the lingering hoof wall separation. I ride her barefoot and it is fairly rocky here, but she seems to be handling it quite well.
I took Tay with me- she is a pain in the butt,  because she  circles the horse and takes little dives at her- Gussie kicked out at her once. But Tay loves coming with so I am hoping we will sort  that out.

As we rode along the dyke I saw the raccoon crossing in front of us, it went up a tree and I got a cute picture of it.

He has been leaving the barn and cats alone so I'm leaving him alone.

The river is staying within it's banks so far, however we are in sunny weather now so I think a lot more runoff will be coming. I think the river will be ok but there could be issues with some of the creeks.

During high water you really get a feel for how powerful water is. This is the same spot where I took the video the other day.

There are lots of areas where the water table has risen enough to be standing water on the trails- not flooding, just high water table as we are so close to the river. 

I think Gussie is really enjoying getting out on the trails, she even volunteered to lope on a nice section of the trail. Big smile!
I had a really nice ride on Gussie yesterday. Everything is clicking and falling into place now.
She stands still when I get on.
She is carrying herself in frame in circles much better- only one time when she got heavy on the forehand and dove into the bit on the right circle.
She has the dwell down pat.

In this photo, Mesa was calling to her but she didn't move at all. I was just sitting there soaking up the feeling of the nice circles, and how she stayed in frame and guided with the lightest of touch of my legs.
I took her down to the bottom trails, most of which are under water now between here and the dyke, we checked out where the pond overflow streams onto the neighbour's property and found a nice branch of blossoms to bring home for Ted.

Riding day 26 & 27

One more update...

Since we are on the subject....

here is Coulee:

She is learning to be a barrel horse and delights her owner with her quirky personality. She says she is fearless!