Wordless Wednesday

Beamer, Birds 'n' Borders!

Enter my giveaway! Draw date March 20!

Spring is inching its way closer, the frost is coming out of the ground  and I think I can see bud growth on some of the hardier trees. This morning was foggy- pretty in its own way.

Beamer had to perform a little when I turned him out this morning.... but it was tough getting a decent photo, not sure of my settings for action in the fog.

Yeah, I know, my photography sucks today Beamer.

Oh well- the day got better! I saddled up in the afternoon sunshine and packed my good camera in a backpack- the first time I've taken it horseback.
I spotted a hawk in the trees, so stepped off and managed a shot or two. I think it's a Red-Tailed Hawk.

I did a lot of trotting, Beamer still has some bar grown under the apex of the frog on his right front, and I hope it will pop loose with some riding on firm ground. It's close, but not quite.
Rio has a dental appointment on the 17th, I think I won't ask too much of him until that's done. He isn't too happy riding in the arena, where we ask him to move in frame etc. but he did enjoy riding down the road after the arena workout. There was a lot of water sitting in the fields near the arena, but it should be going into the ground now that it has warmed up a bit.

* I think these trees are well watered!*

Meanwhile.... there are only 2 pups left for sale now; Chase is going to have a job rounding up and chasing (appropriately enough!) geese off of a Golf Course. That leaves Quinn and Cinch. 

I took those two little rascals out and put them on the lawn for the first time today- hope you enjoy the video!) I have my eye on a red and white female pup, so I really need to get these two sold! Delivery to Alberta, Saskatchewan, Idaho or Montana can be arranged, just sayin'!

Sunday Stills: Barns in black and white

....with a cat or two! Every good barn needs barn cats.

Pupdate

Enter my giveaway! Draw date March 20

The puppies are growing like weeds, and the cuteness factor is increasing too.
Th pup heading to Montana has been decided; they want Try.

That leaves 3 boys available:
Cinch

Quinn

and Chase- I really have to get some better photos of little Chase, but it's difficult because his favourite place is snuggled on my lap.

It was nice and warm today, so I took them all out to the Canine Hilton- the dog run.
They discovered how to climb, and play with sticks and leaves.

So cute! Here is your pup Carol:

 I even took a little video, short because my battery ran out.



The folks who are taking a female pup came out to see her while I had them turned out, they enjoyed taking photos of the pups and playing with them; I took a nice one of their pup cuddling and snoozing.

After an hour of play, they were ready to crash, dropping in little puppy heaps, so we took them back to their nice warm room and they all huddled together., lights out! Some fresh air was good for them.

300! And a giveaway.

A long time ago, I celebrated my 300th post- now I am celebrating my 300th follower- it kinda boggles me that there are 300 people who thought it worthwhile to follow this blog. I know that all 300 don't read every post, just as I don't get around to reading every post on the blogs I follow- although I do try, time permitting. So, to honour you, my readers, I am doing a giveaway; all that is necessary is to be a follower and leave a comment telling when you started following this web log of mine.
The prize? Well, it will be a grab bag of products from local people, maybe even one of my creations depending on who wins. I will make a random draw on the first day of spring- the 20th! I'll make sure to link to this post with every post I put up.
Fire away- I'd love to hear from you!

Wordless Wednesday

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.....

Oh yes, more horses and puppies!
We had a good snowfall the last few days, and it has warmed right up- in fact, it's trying to rain. Beamer took advantage of the snow for his obligatory snow bath when I turned him out today.

He needed it too! Look how dirty the snow is on his side.

Josie and Rio were not too inclined to move out, the snow is heavy and wet- but they did, with a little encouragement. I like how similar they are in their style.

One more of Beamer, then I'll move on to the pups:

The pups will be 5 weeks old on Friday. I only have 3 left to sell- 3 of these (one of them will be going to Montana, just don't know which one yet)

Nick and Tag will be going to the same home, Roper is going to Alberta, and one of the females is going to Kimberley and the other is going to Saskatchewan.
Tess is about done with feeding them, as you can see in this video:



They are on slightly softened kibble, and all of them are drinking water now. They should be on hard kibble by the weekend, although I will still give them the softened stuff. They sure are growing fast!

Sunday Stills

The challenge this week is cows- nary a cow to be seen anywhere that I was this week, so I went to my December archives:; I've been wanting to post this photo so here it is. And a couple more!

Makes a nice change from endless puppy and horse photos!

Stupid wind!

What to do on a cold and windy day? First, I'm glad we aren't getting the bitter cold wind chills that my friends in Saskatchewan are battling! Sure hope this Arctic Vortex thingy turns around and marches right back to the North Pole!
My plan was to haul to the indoor arena today, but I didn't want to be outside at all and I'm sure the horses would have been edgy and not much fun to ride, so..... I just spent extra time with the puppies! They are 4 weeks old today, and starting to develop their personalities.

Looks like Chase and Quinn are debating whether to chew the toy, or try it on for size!

Shayla is having fun tickling their tummies:

and getting lots of cuddle time in- gotta enjoy them while they are still here, they will too soon be gone.

Everybody say "awwww!"

I introduced them to drinking water for the first time today. I'm pretty sure Tess doesn't produce enough milk for them now, they are getting big and growing so quickly now that they are on mash. Their teeth and claws are pretty sharp too, her belly looks like a battle zone!

What do well fed, happy pups do most of? They become huddleuppies!

Well the wind is shaking our home, the wood stove can't keep up so the furnace is on, and it's time for me to huddle up into my blankets!
Stay safe and warm everyone!

Nitro update

That was quite the moon and star combination the other day, not sure what that planet is but it sure was pretty first thing in the morning.

I have a Nitro update for you! Shayla has been trmming his feet, and she took these photos of him yesterday.

He is just. gorgeous! He sure looks like Beamer in this photo.... and in the next photo, he shows that he's got some of daddy's moves too!

What a hip on this horse!
It looks like Shayla is going to get the job of training him- that's awesome! Also, some great news; Shayla will be heading to California to intern with a well known cowhorse trainer for 6 months. More news on that once she is there! There is a possibility that Nitro will travel down there too, it is still in the planning stage. At any rate, his training will start next month- after he's gelded. As you can see, he is kinda full of himself right now!

Puppies! (again)

The pups are pretty active now so it is time to introduce toys; the first one is a simple piece of knotted rope. They seemed to like it so tonight I went and got them a couple of rubber toys to chew on- hopefully they will prefer them to chewing their bedding!

Wordless Wednesday

Getting loaded

No, not with beverages!
It is high time miss Josie learned to load in the trailer.
Shayla gave me a hand, (so I could take photos!)
We wanted this to be a good experience, considering that the only time she has ever been in a trailer was when we weaned her and hauled her 5 hours to her new home here. So we took our time. The first day, we were happy with just consistently loading her head and neck.

Of course, she did test her limits.....

Overall, the first lesson went very well. 

The next day, we picked up where we left off, but added a little more pressure with me clucking to her from behind; every time she even thought about lifting a foot she was rewarded with release of pressure. Within minutes, she hopped right in; I had thought she would just load one foot at a time, but she went in all the way.  Please ignore the frozen poo in the trailer! Need warmer weather to clean it out.

And looked quite proud of herself too.

She unloaded like a pro too, no hesitation.

She will get loaded a few more times this week, and once spring hits I'll take her for a few little rides. I think it's a good idea to teach colts to load before you need to; in our case since we live on a potential flood plain you never know when you have to load up in a hurry.

Pupdate: Roper

The folks who are taking Roper wanted an update; he is the biggest pup, but not a bully, he loves his puppy mash and eats longer than the other pups, and he is just pretty darn cute as you can see in this video:

Just for a change...

from puppy cuteness and frolicking horses- this blog has gone to the birds today!
We are in a state of flux here, the winter birds have moved on and the spring birds are trickling in. The other morning I was serenaded  by Red-Winged Blackbirds as I fed the horses, and the geese are everywhere.

My favourite though, is the resident barn owls. I did a photo shoot of them the other day, and as usual, they were perched in the rafters.

One of them took flight, and I was blessed to be able to get some more photos.

Did you know that the flight of a Barn Owl is soundless unless their wings are wet?

The youngsters

The pups are doing a good job of staving off the February blahs for me. It's that time of year when spring is so close you can almost taste it; the red-winged black birds are back, the gold finches have left for who-knows-where; the ravens are courting; the horses are shedding like crazy, every snowfall lasts only a day before melting away, the geese are back, and it's still too dang slippery to ride on the roads and fields. So I amuse myself with puppy watching.

That's Chase on the bottom, with Quinn and Tag.

Little Nick made his way to the top of this heap, and that's his sister- who now sports the name of Belle- under his chin.
Their eyes all have a bluish cast to them at the moment, but that will change as they get older. They are 3 weeks old now, and it's time I moved them from the house to the shop where we have a whelping pen set up in a heated room. Tess won't be too happy about that, as it will keep her out of the house where she thinks she belongs, but she'll just have to deal with it. By 2 weeks from now, she will only be feeding them a few times a day; I'll start them on mash this weekend.

Josie will soon be a year old- March 19th only a month away! I took some photos of her yesterday, she is so photogenic and seems to have her daddy's love of performing for the camera.

She is pretty rapid, can out run Rio- but then, I've never seen him really open up, I bet he could fly if he put his heart into it.

 Caught Josie doing that extended floating trot that we are so used to seeing Rio do; little miss seems to be saying "anything Rio can do, I can do better!"

 She is going to be a lot of fun over the next few years! I must confess, I'm partial to mares, so I am pretty happy to have this filly to play with.

Just had to include a Beamer photo too- can't leave Mr. Handsome out! He had just had his snow bath- and he needed it, you should see the dirty snow angel he left behind!

He is looking a little chubby, time to get riding him soon.