Ooooh Sunshine!

The sun came out...... yay! After over a week of grey dismalness it was wonderful!

Snow that slid off the roof is about 4 ft. deep in places but it is heavy enough that it holds the horses.

Nitro showing off his characteristic head shake.

Kai suspended, he has the same floating trot as Rio in a scaled down version.

Steam engines!

Of course chubby   I mean Beamer had to get in on the action!

Harrumphhh! I'm not fat! 

First Snow Day of the Winter

The winter storm they forecast hit last night. Light snow until after dark, then this is what I woke up to today:

Just over 8 inches and supposed to snow all day today too. First order of business was to feed the birds, and they were all waiting for me to get out there, galvanized bucket of black oil sunflower seeds in hand, to fill their feeders. On January 1st we had 1 Red Winged Blackbird, we now have 4 and the little gold finches are really having to battle with them for food. I'm sure the blackbirds are putting the word out.... we also have a resident pair of Flickers that were trying to get to the feeders. Then there are these little guys- we don't get many of them usually, but there seem to be more this year, I like their rosy chest.

When I looked out my window at 2 AM, I could see the two geldings standing in the pouring snow (pouring snow because it is coming straight down in tiny flakes like rain) playing with the Christmas tree that I threw in their pen yesterday.  It is mild, and no wind, and I think they were enjoying the snow. Definitely better footing for them, the pen was all frozen pockets of muddy footprints before the snow hit. Now they can move around much more freely.
Josie, however, doesn't look impressed.

After horse chores the dogs decided that I should play ball with them.... it was pretty funny watching them plow through the snow and dig for the ball.

They had a blast! Even Reba got in on the play, although Amber wouldn't let her have the ball.

I'm making progress with Amber, I can now stop her when she is in full flight, and I can get her to "leave it" when she has a toy. Darn near to the point where I won't be wasting my money sending her for stock dog training, which I have scheduled for sometime in February.
Anyway, snow day for me means getting the housework done, then later trimming horse feet. Guess I'd better get off the computer!

The bucket list

Most of us have a little bucket list; things we set as goals - things that allow us to dream big once in a while. One of the things on my bucket list has been to ride in a Buck Brannaman clinic.
Well I finally bit the bullet and entered one! I've been saving up some money for a little while to do something special with, and when I saw on Facebook his clinic schedule, I jumped at the chance. The one closest in Libby Montana was full already- it's in July- but there was another one in July in Ellensburg Washington that still had some room, so I entered in the Horsemanship 1 class. Ellensburg is about a 5 hour drive from here, so it's very doable.
Here is a description of the Horsemanship 1 class:

   For the green horse and rider already comfortable in the snaffle bit along with aged horses needing continued work. This is the first stage of progressing into the bridle with all basic movements introduced. All levels of riders - no matter what discipline - will benefit. The class features strictly dry work - no cattle. All manoeuvres stress the vaquero style of riding and are appropriate for horses from first level snaffle to experienced bridle horses. Hackamore horses welcome.

I plan on riding Kai in the bosal this spring, so this should be a perfect fit for where we are at now. 

"Me? Yer takin' me?"

Aaaaaahhhhhh.............

'Nuff said.

Mayhem!

Boxing Day we went to visit Janice -  and Carol, who was in town from Saskatchewan visiting family. They both have collies that are all my fault (grin). They each have a Reba daughter, littermates Sage and Jess, and they each have a Tess daughter- Janice's Kali from Tess's first litter and Carol's Pip from Tess's second litter.  Here is a picture of the Matriarch Reba and her 3 daughters and 2 granddaughters- with a side of Amber thrown in!

 After the family photo, it was play time.... 7 border collies and one golden lab (Tucker) all vying for the same ball.

Carol got their attention while I took photos....

Jess, in the lead, knew exactly where the ball was, while Pip  ran interference for her!

It was tough to get all 7 in the same photo!

Tucker tried hard, but he was outnumbered! That is Reba in the foreground- pretty spry considering she had cancer surgery less then 3 weeks ago.

I was happy with Amber- this was her first "dog party"  aka social outing. She did really well and actually listened to me. She will be a year old on January 9th.

For the most part, she stuck close to Tess. That is Pip, Tess's daughter in the back.

Isn't she a beauty!

It may have seemed like mayhem, but an order was discernable. Tess always got the ball, with Amber and Pip in hot pursuit. Amber would take the ball once Tess got it, and then drop it and one of the other dogs would grab it.

Meanwhile, Reba and Jess were guarding the jolly ball which Tucker considers to be his.

Kali (front left) was pretty sure that this was waaaaay too much activity and pretty much stayed out of the way of her crazy relatives.

It may have been mayhem, but it was a beautiful day, in a beautiful setting and shared with good friends and good dogs.

Th' boyz get worked

Yesterday was all sunny and warm and a perfect day to load up the boys and head to the arena. Shayla is here for a few days so Nitro got to come along. After a little photo op, that is!

Pretty soggy for a two year old.

Imagine him at 5 years old.....
Since the footing around here is either mud or ice, depending on where you go, we opted for the indoor arena.
I rode Kai around for a bit while Shayla did the ground work on Nitro, then she got on and I took the lead line while she rode Nitro.

He was a good boy! He hadn't forgotten the lessons he had in October. I think giving the youngsters time off to absorb things and grow up a little mentally is good for them, keeps them from getting pressured up.
Then she worked Kai....

He got worked at all 3 gaits. The last time he got worked like this he was all over the place, steering wasn't good, etc. so he has come a long way. We still need to build a soft feel in the face but that will come . Like Shayla said, he needs consistent riding, which I know but it probably won't happen until spring, riding during the winter will be sporadic. I was happy that he was willing to go forward without any silliness, so I think I'll be ok with riding whenever I can without having to worry too much about that. Can't wait for this coming year and long rides in the mountains!!!!

Nitro will soon be heading to Alberta to live with his Shayla- hard to tell who will be happier!

Just doggin' it

Headed north to the Kimberley area yesterday - it was time for Amber to meet the lady who will be starting her on sheep in the new year, and for a quick Christmas visit to Janice.*Janice's other half, Dave, is getting heart surgery tomorrow, so if y'all are the praying kind, a little knee mail would be appreciated for him.*
I took Tess along too, and when we got there her daddy Quill was there, he is 14 now and it was nice to see him again. Tess's boyfriend Moss was there too, and P. put him in the sheep pen, and we had Amber (and Tess) outside the pen watching.

I didn't get any good pics of Amber, but she was quite keen on watching the sheep. Tess of course was beside herself, she wanted in the pen so bad!

P. also worked her young dog Drift, who will be doing nursery trials this year.

Possible future mate for Amber? 

The reason we aren't working Amber just yet is that P. had a hip replacement surgery in October, a couple more months to heal and then we can start- most likely February. 

She gave me a few pointers on things to work on with Amber in the meantime. One of the things I need to do is get Amber more focused on me, I need to be able to stop her in full flight- she isn't consistent with that yet but we're getting there.

We also had the chance to visit with one of Tess's daughters from her first litter, the one I called Emma but got renamed Peppy. They live quite close to P., so we stopped in.

The kids were throwing a toy for them, and Tess was all over that!

 Peppy is a beauty, and like Janice's dog Kali, she looks a lot like her daddy Moss (in the first photo).

 After that, a visit with Janice and on home. I think Tess is coming in to heat, so I'll likely be heading back up there before long!

Wordless Wednesday

What to my wondering eyes did appear....

No, it wasn't Santa and his reindeer, but they probably would have got the same reaction from the horses that Reba did when she visited the horses for the first time wearing the cone.

Nitro was on full alert.....

The two brothers - almost identical aren't they! Kai has a little higher tail set than Nitro.

Josie had to squeeze in the middle of her brothers and get a bead on Reba too.

Beamer was quite intrigued.

You know that song, "I can't take my eyes off of you...." 

Well Beamer, I can't take my eyes off of you, Mr. Handsome!

Reba update

Just a quick note to say that Reba's surgery went well, they found 2 tumours which they removed; her blood work and x-rays show no further problems. She gets to wear the e collar until her stitches come out on Christmas Eve, and I have to make sure she doesn't go out to the horse pens and lie in the mud and manure until she is all healed up. It will be nice to have her back to her old self!

It's all good.

I took Reba to the vet today, as you may recall I had mentioned that she has a tumour, and I wanted to know if the cancer was throughout her body or just the one spot. They did bloodwork and xray, and the good news is that she is normal, so she gets surgery tomorrow and will be home tomorrow. I am so relieved!

She is still quite active for a dog over 13 years old, and I hope she sticks around for another couple of years.

Ulcer Info

I'm posting this link on ulcers in horses for future reference, and so that I can easily find it without having to search the internet should I ever need it, and for the benefit of anyone else. The blog is Equine Nutrition Nerd.