Doing what's right

I have some news to share.....

I'm sure you all remember the 3 brothers. From left to right: Nitro, Rio, and Kai

It's a family affair! Dad, daughter and mom all riding them. This photo warms my heart!

They were looking for a project horse for their daughter, and guess who will be joining them.

Yes, miss Josie is heading to Alberta next weekend. I'm going to miss her.

I called this post " Doing what's right " for a couple of reasons:  because my breeding program is working, if I can raise good minded family horses that generate repeat buyers; and because this is the right move for Josie. Much as I love her, she needs to be shown. I am not that person who could take her talent to the level it needs to go- this is a super athletic filly who is going to someone who will let her shine. I'm just glad that I got that one ride on her. Don't worry, I'll be keeping in touch with her- and all th'boys!

Sunday Stills- Reflections

Lots of things to reflect on, and lots of things reflect. The one that everyone can see is the moon, which has no light of its own, but merely reflects the light of the sun.

I can't seem to get real crisp photos of the moon even with my tripod and timer - I tried several different settings and until I can get one where the edges of the moon are clear, I'll stick with the "moody" shots.

Solo..... *grin*

Another beautiful day today! Shayla came over to be there for me while I took Josie on her first solo ride.

I saddled her up for this, and she stood quietly for saddling. (The saddle pad is too big, it makes her neck look short, which it is not.)

Off to the round pen, where I followed my usual program of ground work, and added in moving and flapping the stirrup fenders. Also did the ground reining; about 40 minutes of ground work.
I mounted from the fence again, she does so well with positioning herself for that. Good girl, Josie!

We started out with Shayla on the get-down rope, then after a little bit she handed it off to me and we were going solo.

I'm really happy with this filly! She is a sweetheart. A dirt bike went by as I was riding, and she didn't turn a hair; as well a couple of trucks stopped on the road just over the fence from us and she ignored them too, just kept her mind on what I was asking her. All in all a very successful first ride. She stayed nice and soft in the bridle, didn't get goosey or try to speed up, just did what was asked of her.

I think from start to finish was about 20 minutes on her back. We did some standing around while Shayla and I chatted too, and she just stood there. I think she is going to be a pretty sensible riding horse. 

Let the fun begin!

 Tess is officially retired from breeding; I had her bred 3 times since her last litter and she didn't catch. She had 2 wonderful litters and there are some very happy border collie owners out there; she threw wonderful pups.
Tess will be 10 this October, and I figure this is the last year she will be able to keep up with me when I ride- sad, that, she has been such a good companion.
I wanted one of her daughters to keep the tradition alive that started with Reba, Tess's mom. I got Reba in 2001, and she is in her 15th year now; poor old girl is not getting around very well but she is still happy and otherwise healthy. She will be 15 in September, if she makes it that long.
Anyway, I wasn't really starting to look for a pup, but when Linda (Just Another Day on the Prairie blog) showed some photos on Facebook of a litter she is picking a pup from..... well..... you can bet I just had to check it out. I found out that the mother of the pups is a lot like Tess in temperament and that is key for me; my last pup Amber was way too aggressive for me and that's why I sold her.
I knew my husband wouldn't be too keen on me getting a puppy, so I went with "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission" and spoke for a pup. The one I picked has the kind of sweetness I was looking for, according to her owner and Linda.

So without further ado- meet Thea!

Oh that face! Can we all say, Awwwwwwww!

Linda took photos for me- I will be headed over to Alberta next weekend to pick her up.

And one more....

I'm all ready for puppy mayhem! She has a nice big crate to learn to sleep in, and I have a dish and a collar for her. She will have Ted wrapped around her paw in no time.
It's also good timing for me to head to Alberta, I need more Hoffmans Horse minerals and a couple of pairs of jeans- I can't find jeans here with long enough legs for me.

Working miss Josie

Another wonderful day here- is it spring yet?

The ravens think so, they are building their nest.

Yesterday, I worked Josie in the round pen, as you can guess by my Wordless Wednesday post. Some time at liberty, some time in hand... she is so much fun. Yesterday, I got on her for the first time. I positioned her at the fence, as I learned to do in the Buck Brannaman clinic- she hit the spot just perfectly. I had my friend Dave over as a safety on the lead line, and was only on her for a minute or so. Once I had petted her all over, wiggled my legs back and forth, leaned over and hugged her and generally made a nuisance of my self shifting my weight, Dave led her out; I just wanted to see how she would react to the feel of me on her as she was moving. If you recall we did this last summer with Shayla on her, but Shayla is about 75 pounds lighter than me. Josie was just fine with it. I was only on her for a few minutes.
Today, she was soft minded right from the start, whereas the last 2 times she was a bit up and full of herself- today she seemed to get it that it was time to go to work, not to play. I spent a good half hour or more on ground work, working on getting her to follow a soft feel in whatever I was asking her to do, from moving her feet in all directions, stopping, backing, sidepassing, turns on the haunches and on the forehand, rocking back and forth with just a suggestion, and squaring up her feet. After that, I put the bridle on her and did some ground reining. This filly is so light in the bridle that you only need to put a tiny bit of weight on the rein and she gives softly. Any time I got too heavy it was because I wasn't quick enough in my release, not because she was resisting. What a sweetheart.
Once Dave arrived, I got on her again, and this time I had the bridle on her, so I had Dave lead her around (you will see the first little bit of that in the video) then I put the camera away and used the reins to direct her, with Dave still on the lead line but not directing her. She reined softly, stopped and backed nicely. I think I rode for around 5 minutes.

That was a pretty good session! So happy with this filly, she learns quick and really wants to please.
She got some grazing time after and that gave her a happy.

Wordless Wednesday

Who can this be?

Some of you wanted to see the finished work of the drawing I was doing- here it is, all framed up and hanging in my living room.

Sunshine and the redhead

Gorgeous sunny day today- I wanted to ride Clancy, but I noticed she is in heat, so I"ll wait a couple of days. I worked Josie instead.
My round pen is in pretty good shape now, so after brushing all the mud off Josie we headed over that way. Got just about there and Josie spotted a cow coming out from behind a bale feeder and went into full alert- she was really feeling good and doing some dancing on the end of the lead line; it has been far too long since she got out of her pen and put to work!

I worked only on getting her to focus on me and work- move your hip over, move your front end across, move your hip, move your front.... etc.... I didn't expect too much from her for her first day back to work. Once we got to the point where she softened and quit worrying about why the tipped over granary was rocking from side to side (the bull calves were rubbing on it) I turned her loose, thinking she might want to play a little, but no.

I did get her to move out some more and had a little fun turning her back along the fence as if she was cutting. That filly has moves! I did take a little video, but it really only shows one of her great moves.

She is super athletic.
 After play time, I took her along the fence and worked on getting her in position for mounting from the fence. She stood nice and quiet, and I stuck a leg over her- never mind my stylish boots!

 I was standing on the fence, and put my leg over her a few times- she didn't move at all, so I slid over enough to put my weight on her back, still keeping a leg on the fence.

Yay! As soon as I get someone to help me I'll start getting on her bareback on a lead line, and then it won't be long before I'll be riding her in the round pen. Taking it slow and easy.

Sunday Stills- Glare

The glare of the sun was most welcome on the 2 or 3 days it showed up last week. Between the sun and the rain, all the snow is gone and the frost is out of the ground.

Taking photos facing into the sun is challenging, but can also come up with some shots with lots of ambience.

I'm really enjoying this mild winter, although I know that folks back east didn't get such  a mild winter; I have to say I feel blessed to live where I do.

I took this one just for fun, Josie's eye with the sun glare .

Oh yes I did!

 I realised that Tess is beyond puppy bearing age, as I have had her bred 3 times since her last litter, and she didn't catch. She will be 10 in October this year. I figure she has one more year of being able to keep up when I go riding, and I really wanted a pup of hers to learn from her and then when Tess has to start staying home, I'd have another dog ready.
So while I wasn't really starting to look yet, I happened across some photos that Linda put on Facebook of a litter close to  where she lives; she was ready for a new dog and did this post on the pup she chose. For me, the timing was perfect so yes, I'm getting one of her litter mates.

This is Thea, which means Gift of God- fitting, because it all fell in place like it was planned.

Apparently, her mama has the same temperament as my Tess dog, and after watching some of the puppy videos, this one seemed the closest to what I'm looking for.
I'm heading over to pick her up when she is 8 weeks old, on the first weekend in March.
Happy dance!

It's all good

While Easterners are surviving crazy swings in weather from freezing cold  and blizzards one day to pouring rain the next, here in the west, we are having a pretty mild winter. The snow and ice I posted the other day are all gone and it looks like things are starting to grow- mind you it's entirely possible we will get a few dumps of snow between now and mid April, but I doubt it will get cold enough for it to stick around.

My yard

Of course, now the frost is going out of the ground and we are in mud season. Not as bad as I thought it would be though. At least, unless we continue to get rain!

Josie likes to visit with the heifers, I often see her over by the fence hangin' out with them.

We had a couple of days of sunshine, with the sun and moon in the sky at the same time it is said to be a blessing.
A couple of friends came over to get some owl photos and decided to go for a walk to the river; it's 3 miles away down the dirt road. They got a head start, and I saddled Beamer and met them down by the river.

I got them to take a photo of me and my trusty steed and faithful dog. :o) Poor angle, makes Beamer's butt look small! You can really see the arthritis in his left knee here. Since I have had him on herbs the swelling is only on the medial side where the lump is, before it was all around including on the back of the knee. As long as he is walking sound on it, I'll continue light riding with him. He will be 15 this summer.
Got some news to share with you later this week... stay tuned!

Sunday Stills: Post

Post... posting... post office... going postal... hmmm. I'll stick to the original meaning.

One of the posts for my hitching rail, Thumper was considerate enough to pose on the post to make this post more interesting!

Making the best of it

This week I have spent my horse time trimming feet. I got Beamer done last week, and over the last week I got the girls done- 2 feet at a time. Fronts one day, backs the next. Josie had bar overgrown over the apex of her frog on both feet, so I really took my time with her. She is really good to trim. I did Clancy the last 2 days, her feet are a work in progress. When I got her she had contracted heels, and instead of a nice round hoof it is pinched at the heels and more of a pear shape. They are slowly spreading but I think it'll be another year before they are where they should be. The nice thing about her is that I can ride her barefoot and she doesn't get ouchy. She has nice strong feet.
Today, as I was trimming, the heifers in the next pen got the wind up, as the landlord was doing something in the next pen that involved a bunch of yelling.  I was underneath Clancy, trimming her hind feet, when she snorted- Josie was snorting and blowing so I watched for a bit. When the heifers came roaring up to the fence Josie ran right up to them (gonna be a good cowhorse someday). I grabbed my little camera for a video but it was a little late.

As you can see in the video, we are into the muddy season here. I can't get the tractor into the pens for cleanup until it dries out a bunch- this is the worst time of the year; mud season- and it's early this year.
Now that all the horse feet are done, I hope we get some good weather next week. I really want to haul to the local indoor and put some time in on Clancy.
I googled the meaning of her name yesterday just for fun- and I like it- it means "red warrior" . Pretty cool!
It was a good week for doing feet, pretty dull weather. This is what it has been like the last few days:

Spring? Not yet but soon!

What an absolutely gorgeous day today. Warm, sunny, just perfect. I didn't ride, but I did get Josie's feet trimmed, and spent some time hanging out with the girls.

As you can see, there is still ice and mud in the horse pens, but it's rapidly melting. There are only bits of snow in the yard now, but anywhere its been packed down there is ice. Like all the border collie trails....
Josie is sure maturing, she looks great. Sill 1/4 inch under 14.2 hh. but starting to fill out. Love her mane.

I spent the rest of the afternoon baking bread, then scooping the yard cigars that are appearing now that the snow is melting. Come evening chore time, I grabbed my camera for one of the prettiest sunsets we've had all winter. Of course it always looks better with a pair of horse ears to set it off.

I think I took 15 photos of the sunset, here's one where there is a reflection in the water in the mare's pen.



























Hope you all had a great day too!
Just for fun, I did a sunset puzzle. I'm sure this doesn't work well on phones but if you have a good ipad or if you use a desktop \computer they are fun.

Sunday Stills- skeletal

That's right- skeletal. No skeletons here, so what I have is the skeletal structure of our Christmas tree after the mares were done with it.

This was a Balsam Fir, they ate all the branches and bark over about a couple of weeks. I loved the smell of their breath!

This dried up bunch of seed pods is all that's left of the black hollyhocks. Linda, I'll bring some over for you when I come, if you'd like some.

It's a warm wind, the West wind....

Looks pretty nice, doesn't it? What the photo doesn't show is the wind. I went out to feed this morning, and the horses stayed out in their paddocks, because, you see, there were horse eating tarps flapping; like this one that covers their hay-

and another one. Beamer stayed in his shelter at the far end of his paddock.

The mares stayed out in their paddock too, until Beamer ventured forth when the wind finally eased up a bit; then they all went to their feeders.
I was hoping to ride today- will have to see how that goes, because this is another thing that warm wind is doing:

Making ice. I won't be taking Beamer out of this gate for a while.

Anywhere the snow is packed down, there's ice but where it isn't packed it's melting to bare ground.

The natives call this warm west wind the Snow Eater. In Alberta we called it a Chinook wind. It could change the temperature by 30 degrees in a matter of minutes. Since it's supposed to stay warm for at least a week, this should all disappear, hopefully the ice too. I really want to be able to use my round pen again.

Sunday Stills- Rust

I watch a lot of the shows on TV where pickers are looking for antique treasures, and they call rust "patina". I guess my horse trailer has good patina!

My husband said to take a photo of this object which he brought back from Vancouver Island. It's used to pound into floating logs in a boom and the round hole is where they run a rope through to drag the logs in.

I think that's what patina is supposed to look like.....

There are always rusty things to be found; one thing you will always find on a farm is rusty nails. Lying in the driveway ready to give you a flat tire, or sticking out underneath a board that you grab when you climb over a fence; or in this case, in a saddle stand that I keep outdoors because there's no room for it in my tack shed, and it needs to be rebuilt.

Needs must.

Needs must be met....
Josie needs time and money spent on her this year- in training. With the state of the economy this year affecting my husband's job, and the likelihood that he will have to take one that pays far less than what he is currently doing- or was doing I should say; the company he is working for is downscaling big time- I have to make a choice with Josie. Either I have to do all her training myself, or I have to put her up for sale, as there is no way I can afford to send her out, or even put her in a clinic like I had planned.

For now. I will continue her training, which is pretty low key as she is just a 3 year old this year. I'll haul her when I take Clancy out, she can pack a saddle when I work her, and at some point this spring I will put some rides on her. I'd like her to get lots of experience of the world without having to pack my butt around, and she did really well ponying last summer. This is a growing up year for her.
That being said, if I find the right person for her, I will let her go to a new home. So technically she is for sale, with training continuing (by me).

Mo' better

Yesterday, I figured I would turn Clancy out in the round pen, if she wanted to roll or run around, she could do it on her own time. So.... guess what.... she just stood there. Sigh.

Ok Miss Clancy. I guess if you don't want to play, we'll see what you want to do.
I thought I'd send her around, but all she wanted to do was be with me. **Grin.**

That's not to say she wouldn't still leave me stranded if she got loose, but it's a step in the right direction.
Speaking of direction- there is a Cowboy Dressage instructor just about an hour and a half south of us, in Idaho, and she is holding a couple of clinics this spring. I definitely want to audit the first one and really wish I could afford to ride in the Jon Ensign one- but not with the way our dollar  is at right now.

This should give me a good understanding of the concept and the way the court is set up. THen there is this one:

This is more along the lines of the Buck Brannaman clinics and I would love to ride Clancy in this one.

Another lesson learned

Such a gorgeous day today that I knew I'd have to ride- especially since yesterday was such a dismal day; we were fogged in and it had only partially lifted by 3 PM. Different story today!

I figured it was Clancy's turn. I spent quite a bit of time saddling her- I was working on combing out her tail, so the saddle pad went on, combed a bit, saddle went on but not cinched- combed a bit more, etc. until I had her cinched up and ready. It was the first time she didn't bite the rail or bloat up her belly.
I led her out to the road to make sure the footing was good- and it was, the road is mostly slushy with bare sections. I stepped aboard- she stood still, good girl; but she started trotting her little springy jog and tossing her head; I could tell she was feeling pretty good on this first lovely day in a long time, so I stepped off and worked her on the ground until she was paying attention. Then off we went, much more relaxed.

She even walked nicely through the puddles. About 50 feet ahead of where I took this photo, I turned her into the field on the left, because a vehicle was coming and I wanted to get off the road; we had Tess with us too.
Sooooo- always listen to that little voice. I ride with a mecate set up, which is a looped rein with a tail which I call the get-down; I usually tuck a loop of this into my belt, so that if I have to step off, I have an instant lead rope without having to take the reins over her head. For some reason, I decided to loop it over my saddle horn instead. Like you would do if you were riding with a halter under your bridle and wanted to loop the lead rope over the horn. I never do this, so why I did today, ...... stupid I guess. Anyway, Clancy got in that lovely soft soggy snow- pawed it once, and dropped to roll! I had to step off on the off side as her legs were out to the left and of course, didn't have time to grab the get-down off the horn. She got up, and went down again for another roll. I tried to grab the rope, but she saw my hand coming and - yup -you guessed it- took off at a flat out gallop headed for home. Man can she run! ( I have visions of trying her on the barrels....)
I started walking back with my trusty dog who would NEVER leave my side, and the neighbour lady came to check on me, as she saw Clancy high-tailing it home without me. She very kindly drove me and Tess home. When I got there, Clancy had made her way into the pen next to Josie, where the heifers live. They only have a knee high strand of (very) hot wire to keep them contained, and she blew right through it. Fortunately, all the cows were quite happy to visit Clancy instead of exiting their pen.

You can see that the get-down is safely still looped over the horn, and that is the loop reins that are dragging on the ground, they were up near her ears so she must have had her head down once she got in the cow pen. She stood quietly while I caught her, then tied her up outside the pen so I could repair the electric fence before the cows did an escape act of their own.
Then- it was off to the round pen- can't have her thinking that running home gets her unsaddled and back in her pen!
So- what to do- I decided that since she didn't come to me after she got up from rolling, I needed to work on join up. I wanted to get her so that she would follow me anywhere; and this is going to take a few sessions and hopefully take us to a new level in our partnership.
I worked her at liberty, took the bridle off but left the saddle on. I started out making her move, then ignoring her;

 `
It took quite a while for her to stop and look at me, and more rounds before she stopped and turned to me, but didn't come to me.

I used the technique of walking back and forth in front of her that Shayla used on Josie last summer; it worked fairly well and although she didn't join up then, it did allow me to move her hind end over and move her shoulder, all without touching her. Pretty soon. I could send her out, stop her, back her, turn her both directions but still no join up. Eventually, it did happen- she came and touched me with her nose, and followed me no matter which direction I went. If I lost her for a step. all I had to do was step to her hip and move it over, then she hooked on to me again.
So that was a good way to end the day.Clancy got a good workout, and it gave me a new direction to go with her, one that I will be able to build on and eventually get that true partnership I'm looking for.