Sunday Stills

One of my favorite things is old barns and that was the challenge for today. Had to wait until Saturday so I could use the new camera, so I only got the two barns that are closest to where I live.
Two horses call this one home, it used to be a blacksmith shop/machine shop.

This one is a cattle barn in the spring.

Playin'

A couple of weeks ago. I ordered myself an early birthday present, and it finally came in a couple of days ago. A local store had this camera on sale, and since it's waterproof and shockproof, I figured it would be just the right camera for me: I have a problem with dust here, and if it's waterproof, it'll be dustproof too. And I like to pack a camera in my pocket or in a case on my belt, which means a lot of bumping, so shockproof is a good idea too.
So off I went today, looking for old barns for the Sunday Stills challenge, but not before checking out some of the settings at home.

I'm happy with the detail at full zoom in low light.(Cropped and edited for brightness and saturation)
This next shot is straight out of the camera, with minimal cropping and resized- the files are over 4000 pixels, and I resize to 800 for the Picasa web album.

Beamer was doing his own brand of playing on this beautiful day so that was a good time to check a few of the functions, like 5 photos in less than a second, which turned out well, and of course, the sports mode- all done in full auto.

Sooc, except for minor cropping. Not bad for a black horse on a really bright day, these were taken right a noon, which is usually terrible light for taking photos of horses.

This one was a little over exposed, but some brightness, contrast, and highlight tweaking fixed it. So far I like the sports mode.
Also like the macro setting- I got really close to this orchid, and got good focus.

And, also important to me is the videos- a must for trying to sell horses.So far I'm not too happy with that- I might have to change the settings to 8 megabites instead of 16, because during playback I'm getting pixelation and jerky action although the sound continues properly. Guess I'd better download the  reference manual!
Overall, I think I'll have some fun with this camera.

Coming soon....

So for those of you (im)patiently waiting for the Nitro news

- well, a friend of Ted's is buying him...

and for now, Nitro will be coming back here, until his new owner gets set up properly for him.

Yeah! That makes me happy! He will be living only about a mile from here eventually, and I'll get to see a lot of him, and watch him grow up. He is going to someone  with a lot of experience with horses, a retired gentleman who has plenty of time and experience to do right by this wonderful colt.

As soon as the roads are good and we get it organized, he'll be here; probably in his own pen for a couple of days, and then back in with his buddies, the mares.

Betcha they'll be happy to see him too!

Stay tuned....

Wordless Wednesday

Model horses

No, not toy ones! Gussie and Beamer are modeling the halters I will be giving away in my upcoming foaling contest- but you will have to be patient and wait to put in your guesses until Valentines day when I'll kick off the contest.
Gussie was a little ticked off that I took her away from the hay her buddies were eating just to pose for a photo.

Check out  that pout! This one is camo colored.

Beamer is stylin' in the blue halter.
I might have some exciting news about Nitro soon- stay tuned!

Winter routine

As winter rolls along, we settle into a routine; early morning chores, afternoon chores, evening chores..... but it's not bad! Mornings I feed the birds, a gallon of black oil seeds between the two feeders- and there is usually a few birds hopefully chirping as I fill their breakfast bar. No sooner do I turn and walk away, than they come, seemingly out of nowhere and flutter around, vying for the choicest spot.

Gold finches, common redpolls, house sparrows, redwinged blackbirds and mourning doves have all munched happily. I wonder where they go at night? I don't see them in the trees around here, or in the rafters of the sheds.
Sadly though, the barn owl that we have seen many times here became a meal for a great horned owl a few days ago. I guess the snow cover has diminished the availability of mice and voles.
After the birds are taken care of, I head over to the horse pens. Beamer gets his "Mornin', Mr. Handsome, got a kiss for me?" and he obligingly lifts his muzzle through the bars of the panel for me. Meanwhile, the mares impatiently wait for the first forkful of hay to be tossed in; greeting me with little whickers, and Coyote Belle tosses her head at the other two so that they understand that she gets the first mouthful.
Rio, meanwhile stands patiently in his pen, unless of course, he has eaten every last scrap of his hay and thinks he's STARVING and then he bangs his feeder and whinnies. He is normally a mild mannered fellow though, and I'm really happy with him.

Still sticks his tongue out when he's drinking and leaves it out afterwards, silly boy.
I did his feet over the last couple of days- he was so good- better than the rest of the herd! Of course, it probably helped that he had something to occupy the attention of his juvenile mind- ropes to chew, o boy!

I just draped his leadrope over a rope that I have tied across the entrance to the cement pad and when he wasn't chewing the lead rope, he was working on the cross rope. Ok with me, it kept him quiet! when we were done, we had to go past the log splitter which is covered by a tarp- Rio seemed to think he should investigate whether or not it was tasty.

Anyway, back to the chores- midday is poop scooping, bring in wood, and any other outside chores that need doing before dark, and in the evening I feed again. They rarely run out of hay, I believe it's better for their digestive system to always have some feed in front of them, but sometimes I make them clean up- hence the earlier remark about Rio when he has eaten all his hay.
I'm all caught up on hoof trimming now- only to start all over again in about 3 weeks!
I just finished making 4 halters, one for Beamer and one for Gussie, and two for the upcoming foaling contest prizes.Yes, it's getting close! Will probably get that going around the end of February, after the mares start bagging up. I'll post photos of the halters tomorrow, two are blue and two are camo, and there will be one of each as prizes.
Anyway, we are enjoying this (so far) mild winter, and spring really isn't that far off! (Remind me of this when I get the February Blahs!)

Sunday Stills

Ed challenged us to photograph one tree; to find one tree all by its self. Can do!

Does what's left of my Christmas tree count? Rio is enjoying gnawing on it, and it makes his breath smell like balsam.

This tree is featured in many of my photos, it's a natural frame for the mountains across the valley.This is early morning light.

This little elderberry tree gets decorated every year by the people who use our road as a walking trail. I really enjoy seeing it, and over the year as it gets windy the decorations blow off into the deep ditch, and new ones are put up every year.

Beamer stuff

Sarah was asking what is going on with Beamer's knee; a couple of years ago he tore a muscle right above the knee, it wasn't tender or hot by the time I noticed it, and it never seemed to bother him. Then this year he has edema in the knee right below the torn muscle. Again, no heat or soreness, but I worry that if I ride him much it will develop into arthritis, hence the "semi-retirement" comment. Here's what it looks like:

It doesn't seem to be bothering him as you can see by how much fun he was having the other day when he got some turn out time in one of the bigger pens.

It's his left knee, and he flexes it just fine!

Looking like a blanket Appaloosa! (This one's for Sherry and Mikey!)

Power take-off!

You can see the lump above the knee in this shot.

Showin' off!

You can see that he doesn't favor it at all. Excuse the noise in the background, that's Merle complaining about being left out of the action.

This shot cracks me up.... "I did good, didn't I?"

Nitro update

Hey folks, Nitro is back on the market. His new owner is having some difficulties and has made the hard decision to sell her horses, so our little guy is available again. If you are kickin' yourself for not buying him before, now is your chance. He is very affordable at $600, if you want a good minded, good looking colt with some speed, here he is. Here are some photos from the summer to remind you.

********************************************************************************** I can board him here with Rio for a time if need be. C'mon, I'd love to see him go to a good working home!

Looking back and looking forward

2012 wasn't a really momentous year for me as it was for some folks. It was definitely one of the wettest years we've had in a while, odd when so many of our neighbours to the south were in the middle of a really bad drought.
Family-wise, I did get in some good visits, although there is still some family I haven't seen for quite some time- perhaps I can work on that this year.
As far as the horses go, I am sure happy with the colt we raised, Nitro, he was a dandy! Also got in some fine trail riding with my friend Janice, up around Kimberley, and locally, ably guided by Shayla. Nice to know where the good local trails are. Gussie was a good mount for me, but she is expecting a foal in about 3 months- I'm pretty excited about that, because so far her Beamer babies have been blue roans. Coyote Belle and Chickory are also ladies in waiting, although Chickory will be leaving for her new home this month.
Rio got started on ground work, and I have him booked in to Smith Training Stables in Ft. McLeod in May/June. Janice will be sending Rio's sister, Jazz, along with him, and it's going to be really fun to start riding Beamer babies.
I haven't set many goals for them this year- just get Rio going and put a few short trail rides on him when he comes home from the trainer, and once Gussie's foal is weaned get her back in riding shape. Beamer is in semi-retirement unless I can fix the problem with his knee; but we did go out on a little putt this afternoon, a great way to top off the first day of the year.

Now it's time to get dinner happening, and back to work tomorrow. Here's hoping that we all have a good year, with not too much drama.

The best of Beamer 2012

Someone suggested that I give Beamer his own "best of" set of photos, and I thought it was a good idea. So here's one from every month:

January

February

March

April Ummm thanks to Nitro, Beamer got a little neglected in the photo department in April!

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Sunday Stills

The final challenge for 2012, is our favorite photos from this year. I spent a lot of time looking through them, and while it might be expected that there would be a photo of Beamer in this bunch. actually, there isn't.
But there is Nitro!

and my pretty Pearl....

a January morning....

spring flowers....

more Nitro....

Geese flying in.....

a sunset....

Gussie strutting....

 and my most favorite.... horse drool....