Tillie is about 3 weeks old now. She is quite adorable!
Her potty training is going well, I just have to catch her as soon as she wakes up and take her outside to the pee spot (as defined by Merle!) It's right next to the oak barrel with some lovely petunias, so that of course makes for a great photo op.
Sniffing them...
and tasting them too!
Her eyes are still quite blue, and I hope they stay like that, it will remind me of Reba. Tillie's daddy has blue eyes.
Her nose and lips are filling in with black, and she has little toofers now too! Although I usually start pups on mash at 3 weeks I'm going to wait another week with her as she has no competition for food and is growing quite well. As soon as her teeth start annoying her mama I'll start her on the mash.
We'll start this post off with a family photo for National Dog Day.
The pup is getting quite mobile, and as soon as she wakes up I take her outside to pee, which works quite well. Hopefully she will be easy to train to not go in the house.
I finally got to ride again. I put one of those Equine Streamz bands on my ankle and within 24 hours I had so much relief! Not 100% but good enough to go riding today.
Come for a little ride with me! Gussie was a little lazy going out, she has had it pretty easy this summer so I decided to challenge her a bit. We rode down to the river at a spot that has an easy crossing.
Picture me with my camera in one hand and my split reins and a willow switch in the other hand trying to urge Gussie across! We got it done with much urging, she was reluctant to cross that rocky bottom river.
On the other side is a very steep hill, with spectacular views half way up and at the top. The half way up video wasn't worth sharing, too shaky, but here is the view from the top:
I think Gussie enjoyed the view as much as I did.
Or maybe she was just drooling over the equine buffet spread out before her......
At the top of the hill there are a couple of apple trees growing wild, so I grabbed a snack for me and Gussie.
On the way back I figured she would be a little more inclined to cross the river; sure enough!
We wound our way through the cool and welcome shade of the trees on the way back.
I love this horse so much! It's always a joy to ride her and I feel so at home on her.
Even when things don't go the way I want, there is lots to keep me busy and happy.
It has been a pretty low key week for me. I did get in another ride last week with a friend, just riding the river trails, and had plans for a couple of rides this week.... but that went downhill last Thursday. I was trimming Sassy's front feet and she wasn't too happy about it. I had her just ground tied and her foot on the hoof stand in front of her filing her toe and she sunk down and pulled back at the same time, hooking her leg around mine behind my knee and sent me flying. Needless to say I am pretty sore, fortunately just a soft tissue injury to my lower back but it sure does cramp my style! Hopefully I will be able to get back to riding next week.
Eli is looking great and almost completely shed out, just a few hairs left on his lower legs. He loaded really well last time I asked so I moved on to working on standing tied. I like to give colts a reason to do things, so I put his food within reach at the hitching rail and just looped the lead rope 3 times around the rail; it gives just enough resistance so that he feels it but will slip if he spooks at something or pulls hard.
He is also getting quite accustomed to the dog and cats being underfoot- or, in the case of Thumper- under nose!
I also noticed that he has a good sprinkling of white hairs on his flanks, just like Mesa does. It must come from Beamer's mama, who was a black rabicano. Eli is also getting really good with his feet, letting me lightly run the rasp over all 4 while he was eating. So when Mel comes next time we should be able to complete his trim without much drama.
Drifter is really looking good (and my how he has grown!) I took some photos yesterday when I turned him out- just cell phone photos, times like this I really miss my Nikon.
He's going to be stunning when he's all grown up! He's a good boy and really smart too. It took only once to train him that he isn't allowed in the shelter when I am in there either cleaning it or putting his food out. But it doesn't mean that he doesn't get up to no good! Look what he did to my stall fork which was leaning against the shelter while I put his hay out....
Dang! I hate it when that happens! I saw somewhere that they are making a fork that can withstand being stomped and bent, I hope I can find one! Meanwhile, he just had to play with it... what the heck it's ruined anyway; let him have some fun.
And I can't go without sharing a really cute puppy video! She now has a name- Tillie. She is 2 weeks old now and finding her legs and her voice. She is quite entertaining!
Time for a Booncat post! He is 2 months and nearly 2 weeks old now so it's time to work on his training a little more than I have been. I can walk up to him and catch him most of the time- he gets better every time- and he is starting to lead too.
I haven't done a lot with him other than pick up his feet and catch him once in a while but as he approaches 3 months old it's time to start getting him to eat the Step One kibble.
It will be a work in progress! I'll probably have to do the alfalfa pellet trick like I did with Eli.
Speaking of Eli.... while he is loading in the trailer to eat every day, it still isn't at the jump-right-in stage. He loads the front feet and backs out several times. Yesterday I added something new to the equation by leaving the trailer door hanging open instead of pinning it all the way back like I have been doing. This makes it like a longer loading chute with the door on one side and me on the other side. I like to send the colts in instead of having them follow me in, which is fine for the first few times but sending them in is safer and more like what they need to do as an adult.So yesterday Eli was not happy about having something different! It took me about a half hour to load him, reminding myself always to stay soft and not get frustrated. I used the John Lyons method of tapping his hip with the stock whip and stop tapping every time he made a forward move. It gets them using their brain as they associate the absence of the aggravating tapping with forward movement and eventually seek that reward. ( Note that I say tapping and not whipping!)
As soon as he starts jumping right in I am going back to having him stand at the hitching rail to eat so that we can work on his standing tied some more. When he goes to his new home I want him trailer loading, foot broke, and standing tied. Another thing I have been doing with him is fly spraying him, he is actually pretty good about that.
But mostly, they just get to be boyz.
Doing the Booncat Boogie
Eli the elegant- he can sure cover the ground!
The size difference in one that will be 16 hands and one that will be 14.2 hands- remembering that Eli is 2 months older than Booncat.
And ... ummmm.... I am guilty of not checking properly when I looked at the puppy, apparently "he" is a "she" and no she does not have gender confusion! The owner of her daddy stopped by yesterday and I showed him the puppy. Apparently his daughter can't take her so..... I may just keep her! ***Big silly grin*** My husband rolled his eyes when I said that.... but really, Tess will be 13 in 2 months, Tay is not a good dog to take when I trail ride as she constantly harasses the horses so this pup could be my next riding companion. (See how I justified that). And I have been wanting another female pup for years now. I consider this a gift from God who always knows best.
I like it when there is progress every day with the babies. And Eli made good progress yesterday. I led him straight to the trailer for his kibble...
He is getting the hang of it! Several times he stepped in and out with his front feet. Then he loaded one back foot....
and then the other one.....
Good boy Eli!
My goal for today is to have him stand all the way in the trailer to eat. He stepped out nicely too.
After that he seemed to be quite pleased with hisself, and he got a good grooming and even let me clean all 4 feet with very minimal fuss. Very happy with his progress!
Since Mel was last here, I have been working on a couple of things with him. Getting him to really enjoy his kibble so that he will be willing to eat it wherever I put it (think trailer loading) and picking up his feet . With the youngsters, it's always a work in progress, and giving them something to think about. Sometimes they process things for a day or so and then the next time they are much better. Eli wasn't very good with his back feet when we were trying to trim him so I worked on touching them all over with my stock whip, rubbing and petting with it all over his legs and belly. That went really well. So the next time, I used a soft brush, and brushed all his legs, and again he was fine, no kicking. Then the next time he let me pick up the feet and hold them by the toe for just a little bit. Today, I picked them up and if I had a hoof pick in hand could have cleaned them (reckon that will be tomorrow) and he let me circle them and set the toe on the ground. Good boy, Eli!
When I started him on his kibble, I had to mix alfalfa pellets in with it because he likes alfalfa and the smell convinced him to eat it even if the texture bothered him. Every time I had to make a new batch I used less and less alfalfa and now he is on straight kibble (Step 1) and eating it heartily.
The other day it was raining when I went to feed him. I take him out of the mare pen to do this, and had been feeding him at the hitching rail with the rope looped over and not tied, but I was darned if I was going to stand in the rain for 20 minutes while he ate, so I opened up the back of the trailer which set him off in a holycrapitsahorseeatingmonster moment. Colts are so funny when you introduce something new it's such a big deal for them but then their innate curiosity takes over and they just have to check it out.
Very suspicious!
Initially I set the feed tub on the ground next to the open door. As soon as he was ok with that, I set it just barely in the trailer.
That was enough for the first day; I sat next to him quietly while he chowed down, then took him to the hitchin' rail for grooming and working with his feet. The second day (yesterday) he went straight to the feed tub without hesitation and as he ate he was checking out the sides and floor of the trailer and discovered bits of hay there that he wanted.
I kept moving the tub back a bit so he had to put his head and neck a little farther in but stopped short of where he would have to put his feet in. Didn't take him long to clean it all up.
Well today I stepped it up again. I started where I left off and once he was eating heartily, I moved the tub back to where he would have to put his feet in the trailer
I didn't care if he actually ate I just wanted him to volunteer to step into the trailer. He stepped in with one foot, then the other one landed in his feed tub so he backed out.
I asked again, just giving him time to think about it without pressuring him up.
I moved the tub closer to him and let him eat some more, then slid it back in again and asked again. The next video is 6 minutes if you care to watch it, but it's interesting watching his thought process as he takes his time deciding that maybe he can do this.
Since he was so good, I moved the tub back to the door for him and let him clean it up. He did think about stepping in again to eat some of the hay after he was done his kibble but after 5 minutes, he was done. Little guy burned a lot of brain cells thinking today! I gave him a good grooming and picked up his feet before turning him back into the herd. I was pretty happy with him today!
The last two days have been rather trying. Tay was quite agitated and didn't want me out of her sight, so I spent all of yesterday sitting with her.
She was super restless, and was ruffling up all the dog beds, a sure sign of imminent whelping. At 11 pm she had her first pup... sadly, it was stillborn. A large pup. I stayed with her all night, making myself a makeshift bed out of cushions and she snuggled right next to me laying her head on me. In the morning I had Ted keep an eye on her as I rushed down to feed the horses. At 11 am this morning, she had her second pup, again a large stillborn pup. It was a real struggle for her. There was a foul smell with the sack that was attached to it, it was quite black too. I called the vet to ask about that and if he thought there would be any live pups in there. I had barely hung up and she gave birth to the third pup- this one smaller and very much alive! I quickly checked him out and dried him off- Tay wasn't quite sure what to do with him but started licking him, and her maternal instincts really kicked in when I got him suckling. Now she is quite possessive of him!
In fact to get her to go do her business I have to carry him - she keeps a close eye on him but gets it done. I'm hoping in a couple of days she will chill out a bit.
Since this is the only pup, I have offered him to the owner of the pup's dad as we had a deal that he would either take a pup or the price of a pup, and his daughter wanted a pup. I will wait to see if she wants him before I make any other plans, and she will get to name him.
It's always a good day when my husband rides with me. He promised to go for a ride with me this weekend, and since I only have 1 rideable horse at the moment, he rode Gussie, and I led Beamer and we headed to the swimming hole to cool off from the August heat.
Beamer has been gimpy lately and I wanted to see if exercise would help. It certainly improved his mood, and he didn't limp as much as I thought he would. I put Gussie's hoof boots on him although they are a size too big for him. He was doing some stud talk to Gussie, but I can't really blame him. He doesn't get out in the company of mares much any more unless it's teasing or breeding.
There were some folks at the swimming hole, bet they weren't expecting to share with horses! But it's a large area and we stayed at the shallow end well away from them. We both rode into the water; I had brought Beamer's bridle, so I took off his boots and bridled him to ride into the water. He quite enjoyed it, a bit apprehensive when it got quite deep but I didn't swim him. Gussie wouldn't go all the way in for Ted, as you can see in the video....
so we switched out and I grabbed a willow branch to motivate Gussie- and we swam! That is such a cool feeling, at least for me. Gussie gets a bit kerfuffled when her feet don't hit bottom but she did swim a few strides for me a couple of times. The water was just right! I hope to go again this week.
On the way back, we switched and Ted led Beamer while I rode Gussie. I didn't put the boots on as they were a bit floppy on him, and Gussie doesn't need them. We were riding on the dyke which is fairly rocky and I wanted to see if Beamer was tender footed, but he isn't . I took this video to see if he was gimpy after the long walk but I think he actually improved.
The plan is to monitor him today and see if he is sore, and if he isn't I will be taking him for walks or turning him out in one of the larger paddocks on a regular basis.
I said goodbye to Sparkle today, and I hope that wherever she ends up she will get a chance to sparkle and shine for whoever is lucky enough to get her.
Eli's owner came over yesterday, and we did a run to North 40 in Sandpoint where she bought farrier supplies and I got some dewormer and rope for making halters. Then we spent some quality time with Eli, culminating in getting his front feet trimmed. I wish I could say he was good, but he did protest quite a bit; but with persistence he got done. He was really kicky with his back feet and that earned him some discipline and some work until he decided that maybe, just maybe, it was easier for him to let us pick up his back feet. So that is what I will be working on before her next visit.
Here are some cute photos of them, you can see that Mel is quite smitten with him.
You can tell she is a farrier, those are strong arms!
Eli is almost all shed out now. His tail will keep a lot of that light colour mixed with the black, just like big brother Rio. In fact he is a lot like Rio.
I told her she is going to have to teach him to bow so he will be easier to get on to ride! 12. 2 at the hip at only 3 and 1/2 months old....
The hot days are upon us and what better thing to do than ride to the swimming hole. I had a new trail riding partner yesterday, with her lovely Arabian mare Mya.
As we approached the river I was quite surprised to see a big ole stump right in the middle of the river- it wasn't there a few days ago and we didn't have any rain that may have washed it down the bank somewhere.
I wasn't sure if Gussie would be willing to go in the river, as the last 2 times I was there she refused to go in more than a few feet, and the other lady had the same concern with her horse. We both broke off a willow branch to use as a motivator as we wound our way through the shrubs on the river bank. It definitely helped, but once Gussie and Mya started in they really seemed to enjoy the water and we had a pleasant time wading around, and just standing in the water up past their bellies. No swimming this time though as I didn't want to get my saddle all wet.
The water was just right, not too cold. I may go back several times over the next week or 2 as we have a heat wave coming.
Eli's owner is coming to see him on Friday and I'm hoping she will want to trim his feet (she is a farrier) . He is really shedding his baby coat and coming in with that deep chocolate colour that is typical of Belle's smokey black foals. I will work on getting some good photos of him when she is here.
Booncat is really roaning out now, I just can't wait for all that bay hair to be replaced with his real colour!
He is quite the little charmer. I have decided that if he doesn't sell by weaning time at the end of September that I will take him off the market until he is a little older, as he is quite small and probably will only be 14.2 when he's all grown up. It will be fun for me to do all the ground work on him over the next year or 2 and then I will decide when to market him. Who knows, maybe I won't want to part with him! He will be gelded next year.
And then there is Sparkle...
You all know that I don't like it when my herd doesn't get along. The reason Sparkle is separated from the herd and put in with Drifter was because she was kicking the crap out of Sassy and generally being a crabby mare to the others. I don't mind ear pinning and posturing, all mares do that, but to outright kick the others is not allowed. It would be different if I had 20 acres for them to roam on, and bigger sacrifice pens, but with a smaller set up like mine, herd harmony is paramount . I don't need injuries and vet bills.
Since being in the separate pen, however, she has started picking fights over the fence with both Belle and Sassy. (Gussie is wise enough to stay out of it). One morning the hotwire between the pens, which is above the panels that I lined with wire mesh, was broken down . It was pushed into the main pen so it was obvious that Sparkle was the guilty party, as well, she had bite marks on both sides of her face . She had been picking fights with mama Belle, and got put in her place. After that, she started picking fights with Sassy again. I caught them going at it one morning and took after them both with the stock whip, and got them momentarily broken up but they just moved down the fenceline and went at it again. So they both got TOLD. I thought that might have a lasting effect but sadly, no. Yesterday there was a wire down between the pens, all stretched out and a staple missing. I use double twist wire, like barb wire without the barbs and it proved it's worth as there were no injuries, but I will need the metal detector to find the staple. That was the final straw. So on Saturday, I am hauling her back to her former owner, as we had an agreement that if Sparkle didn't fit my program that she would take her back. It's kind of sad, because there was a lot of potential that she would be my cowboy dressage mount, but it wasn't to be I guess.
Summer is in full swing now, complete with thunderstorms, rain and hot days all mixed up. But not too hot to get work done with the horses. Booncat progresses, he is fairly easy to catch now and is starting to lead and turn. He is usually busy playing with the lead rope knot!
Eli is eating his foal ration well now, although I still have to mix it with alfalfa pellets. I'm working on getting him to hold his feet up longer, as the next time his owner comes we are going to rasp his feet. He and Booncat play now, they are both instigators and pesky with each other. The size difference is amazing. I measured Eli today, he is 12.2 hh at the hip already! and just over 3 months old!
Trimmed Drifter's feet yesterday, he was not bad; a bit fidgety; I had my friend Dave helping and when he got too restless I had Dave walk him out to help reset his brain. He only jerked away once where I had to let go, and only got cussed out once. 😁
He is getting big too- 14.2 and a half at the hip at 14 months. He's looking pretty good though!
I worked Sparkle a couple more times, bitting her up first and then riding one time, then just riding her 2 more times, all in the small pen. I tried riding her out of the pen into the yard but it didn't feel right, she was very looky and spooky so I figured she isn't ready for that just yet. More arena time with her will help me get to know her better, but that means hauling and as we only have one truck and Ted uses it to get to work it kinda makes it tough to just do my thing. I rode Gussie down to the river on her own twice and ponied Sparkle once to the river- she loved it! She was a bit looky going through the yard though and shied once as we got going, so I may not trail ride on her for a while. After riding my good solid Gussie I just don't want to deal with spooking any more. Getting too old for that!
Took another ride on Gussie today before it got too hot, cruising through the bush down to the river and back.
What's not to love? A lovely day, the creak of the saddle and a good horse to ride. My kind of relaxation!
Since I have had Booncat and Sassy in the herd, I haven't tried to halter Booncat, so it's been about 3 weeks. Today I set to getting him halter broke, thinking he was going to have none of that! Well.... I'm happy to say that he was quite cooperative!
I started out by having it in my scratching hand, as he always presents his butt for scritches as soon as he is anywhere near you. Then rubbed him with it as I would if I was brushing him. Pretty soon he was all about that rope!
Love this colt! He is going to be so easy to train!
Friday the 19th Eli turned 3 months old. I kind of slacked off on his training because he won't be weaned until he's 5 months old- and I kinda regret that now! He is soooo big!
However, he is a sweet heart most of the time. He is really easy to catch, loves his skritches and getting brushed, leads reasonably well but there is room for improvement there.
He is slow in adapting to eating his foal kibble. He though I was crazy the first time I offered him the Step 1. Not food! apparently. So I tricked him a bit by adding alfalfa pellets, which smells much more like food, and had to offer it by hand and slowly work him up to eating it out of the pan. He's a funny boy; I tried him this morning on less pellets mixed in and he was having none of that!!!
He is starting to show his true colour now. He's going to look just like his big brothers!
He moves like Rio, thinks like Kai, and has Nitro's funky crooked face stripe. Speed isn't his thing although he has plenty of it and uses it when he needs it, he just doesn't zoom like Booncat does and like Nitro did.
When Booncat gets zooming at turnout time, Eli gets in on it too- with lots of tail flagging and looking cute at first .
That booty!
Photo bombed by Tay... who is going to have puppies in 3 weeks!
This is a really nice colt . So happy that he has found his person!
Today was all about checking out what Sparkle knows as far as arena riding goes- all the basic stuff that a broke horse can do.
As promised here is the progress in her saddling; note that she is not tied solid. She has come a long way from my first attempts at saddling her !
Once in the pen I did a little groundwork on giving her hip and changing directions smoothly, that showed progress in that she only gave as much as I asked for (progress for me as well in asking as softly as possible) then it was time to ride. This time I bridled her and stepped up with no preliminary exercises.
I apologize for the pooh pile in the foreground of the video! I need to get a tractor in there and scrape the piles- that one is Drifter's stud pile.
In the video, I do a few simple exercises: lateral work, same rein serpentines, sidepassing the box, and spiral into a front crossover. All of it needs improvement, but she has the basic understanding of what I'm asking. Remember, she was not ridden in a bit for the last few years although her original training was in a snaffle, so she is dealing with reacquainting herself to that feel as well as that she hasn't been asked for this kind of work for a while . I thought she did really well, considering the distractions of a helicopter flying low overhead on it's way to hovering over cherry orchards to blow the rain off them (keeps the cherries from splitting) and Drifter banging away on a log in the adjacent pen.
Once I am happy with her work at a walk, I'll progress to a trot. Another day or two I think. Then I will need to find someone to ride with me on a local trail ride- I am really looking forward to that!
It is time for me to stop procrastinating and get to work with Sparkle. The foals no longer take up so much of my attention although their cuteness is sure captivating! Booncat is very friendly and I do need to get him haltered more often, and Eli is learning to eat his foal ration when I catch him and bring him out of the pen, more on that another time.
It had been a while since I worked with Sparkle. Yesterday I started back on her training program. My goals: Have her stand at the hitching rail to be saddled is #1. Not necessarily tied, looped over is fine as it gives her a bit of movement to back up if she gets concerned, but she does have to stand for saddling. So, yesterday she chose working in the round pen over being saddled at the hitching rail. However it only took less than 10 minutes for her to remember that it's a lot of work to say no, and I got her saddled. Part of the plan is that I don't ride her unless she lets me saddle her from the start, so instead of riding her after saddling, I put the snaffle bridle on her and bitted her up. She is not accustomed to wearing a bit, so she fussed with it a bit but didn't really have much problem in giving to the rein pressure.
Today, I gave her the chance to say yes and she took it. Which brings me to goals: #2 Riding her only after she is good on the ground.
I saddled her with the lead rope only looped around the hitching rail, she backed 1 step when I threw the saddle up which to me is acceptable on this particular horse. Then I took her into the bottom of the foaling pen, which is kind of like a mini arena, to do some ground work and assess her some more. It was interesting finding her points of resistance and learning how to get past them without adding too much pressure; she is super sensitive and too much pressure gives a huge reaction with her.
The reason I ask for the horse to step over on the hind end in this exercise is because it sets them up for the one rein stop which is crucial for safety, especially on a green horse or one I am unfamiliar with.
Sorry about the barking, Tay thinks when I click to the horse that it's a signal for her to help.
After the ground work I bridled her and checked her around using the off side rein around the saddle horn and getting her to follow the rein around turning away from me. 4 times each side - good on the left turn but had to work a little more on the right turn. After that, I thought about stopping but decided to once again give her the benefit of the doubt.
She followed me in a nice join up so I figured it was a good time to step on. At first she was a little concerned about the bit when I picked up the reins, but as soon as she realized that I wasn't taking a firm hold she relaxed and we had a nice little ride. I used two hands at first to make sure she was ok with guiding (Janice only rode her bitless) but soon went to one hand and used legs and body to turn with minimal reining. I think a few more days of riding her like this and making sure she is comfortable with me using the snaffle on her and we should be able to go out to a bigger arena and then on to trail riding. Am I being cautious, maybe too cautious? Perhaps, but better safe than sorry. If she spooks at something on the trail I want her to completely understand what it means when I pick up a rein and do a one rein stop in a hurry.
Headed out a couple of days ago for my first real trail ride of the year. Gussie and I and Janice and Jade, and their dog Gus went to McGinty lake which is a nice ride through widely spaced Ponderosa Pines and lots of wildflowers (which I didn't get photos of!). We rode about 2 and a half hours which was perfect for my out of shape horse and my butt .
There be mountains in the distance!
Both horses knew there were other folks out and about even though we couldn't see them at first.
Jade and Gussie are the same age, 16. Jade is a Morgan. Ain't she pretty? There was something she was alerting on that we couldn't see- maybe it was the skunk that we kept getting whiffs of as we ate our lunch by the lake.
Gussie, however was busy with her own lunch!
I got a kick out of Gus (the dog) who had to go into every bit of water he could find- whether it be a mud puddle-
or the lake, where he happily bailed right in and swam around just for the joy of it. That's a Labrador for you!
It was good to have him there because this is bear country.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch....
I have kept Booncat and Sassy separate from the herd as Sassy got used to being a mama, and because Sparkle and her sometimes get into kicking matches and I didn't want any injuries now that Sassy has been sold. So I brought Sparkle and Drifter out and put Sassy and Booncat in with Belle, Eli and Gussie. It worked out really well, as Sassy is finally chill enough that she doesn't get all worried if Booncat is out of her sight. At first she put the run on Eli as he checked out this new addition which he has only visited with over the fence so far. But today, he was allowed to approach.
There is 2 months difference in their age, hence the size difference- plus Eli is going to be a BIG boy.
And about Drifter- we kicked him into the mare herd so that he can learn herd manners, which was working perfectly, because Belle is already in foal to Beamer, and if we have a catch colt from him with Sparkle or Gussie it won't matter. We want Sparkle to get used to stallion behaviour so that she can get in foal, which up to this point she shuts down around stallions, as Janice found out to great expense over the last 3 years. So far, it is working: Drifter is mindful of the mares tolerance for him, and Sparkle, although she hasn't shown heat in the 2 months she has been here is at least tolerating Drifter's attention.
I took the stall front off of the foaling stall so it's nice and open and they can both go in if the weather gets bad. They actually get along quite well- and Sparkle is the boss!
Eli got to meet Mel yesterday, and I think she was pretty pleased with him! He is a little bigger than she was expecting, but he is going to fit in well with all the things she uses horses for.
We get to follow his career too! This special boy came along at just the right time in Mel's life and it's pretty cool that she has wanted a Beamer baby for a long time, and this was the one. There are not a lot of Beamer babies, and as he ages and his arthritis progresses, there may not be very many more. I am sure hoping Belle gives me a filly next year.
Betsy! Your wait will soon be over, I finally picked up your hat - their embroidery machine was broken for a couple of weeks, and then the lady was away for a couple of weeks. So at last here it is- sorry, not green or brown so I hope you don't mind black. I'll skip across the border tomorrow and mail it, you should get it soon! Sorry for the delay, I haven't forgotten you!
Booncat is a month old tomorrow. I had been putting his halter training on hold as his mama was not too happy with all his antics as he tried to avoid being caught, but she has chilled out a lot now, even to the point where she will leave him sleeping and head a long way away for her feed. Then he wakes up and looks around- no mama- no problem! Until he spots her and then it's full tilt to investigate what she is eating. They are both getting more independent, which is good. I still have to catch him in the stall, just makes things easier.
Shayla has sold Sassy, and she will be here until near the end of September. So that gives me lots of time to enjoy this little rascal! He sure is fun.
Eli meets his new person tomorrow, I'll be sure to get a photo shoot.
Today is our national celebration, Canada Day. I went and watched mounted shooting put on by a local club- there was some awesome shooting and fast horses! But not all of them, some were in their first year of competing and were a little more sedate, such as this local lady:
and some were hell-bent for leather!
This pattern had him shooting the blue balloons with a lever action rifle:
But my favourite entertainment of the day was when I came home and little Booncat was showing off for me!
