Moondance update

I'm having some trouble with my right arm rotator cuff, so riding and working horses is kind of at a standstill for a few days. I did pony Moondance from Gussie a couple of days ago and he did ok until he thought he didn't have to and threw a little fit, falling down a couple of times. I just bailed off Gussie  who stood nicely ground tied while I regrouped my lead rope and eventually he led like he should.  It is so hard for a little fellow to realize the universe doesn't revolve around him!

What? Say it isn't so!

He is really starting to blow off that baby hair and show the black underneath. I'm so excited to see him all shed out but that will probably take another year.

You can see all the little spots of black where he has rubbed off his baby hair.

I was looking at old photos of Nitro and he looks so much like him but with one less sock. And oh my what a hip on him!

Riding day 24

Gussie gets to work (cows!)

Cows, that is. And a bull.
We woke up to a bull and some cows and calves in the yard.

A guy down the road from us had trees blow down across his fence in a storm yesterday, and of course the cattle went walkabout. They headed away from our place, but later turned around and came back. Now, we have neighbours just across the fence from us who have cattle too, and this bull just had to visit with them. He got separated from his cows, they stayed down the end of the road while he and that tan calf  turned back to visit the other cows. Of course, right through our yard again. I grabbed my longe whip and got them headed back towards their own farm, but there was no way that bull was going to line out for home when there were girls to visit with. And the owner only had a quad to move them with and I could see he was getting frustrated.

Visiting with the neighbour's bull, not a good idea!

So I offered to go get Gussie and help. We went back and got "his" cows and got them lined out for home.

That's our driveway, managed to line them out at a good enough clip they didn't turn in there. Once we got close to where the bulls were having their discussion about whose cows were whose, we managed to get them past that spot and continue down the road to their own farm, and I headed down to get the bull while the cow's owner kept trailing the cows.
He was in deep bush and I couldn't get around him so I had to take a wide trail down to the dyke and up through the bush- Gussie is just the best bush horse, goes wherever I point her-  and managed to come out on the side of the bull that allowed me to push him where I could get him turned towards home. He had one last conversation with the black bull but a lot of hollering and pressure from Gussie convinced him to get moving.

Of course, he wouldn't go down the road, instead had to go through yet another yard.....

which bordered the hayfield of the farm where he escaped from....

and he was reunited with his cows, which had been successfully trailed home. I locked the gate and gave my hard working horse a hug! She did great!  She worked up quite a sweat on this muggy humid day. But I'm glad this all took place in the morning; we were done by 11 am, because we had one more rockin' rollin' thunderstorm in the afternoon. I was cleaning the horse pens on a tractor and managed to get them done just before the skies opened up.

Riding day 23

Moondance

Moondance is officially Midnight Moondance now, his registration went through. However. AQHA made 3 mistakes on his papers, so I asked them to correct it and send me a new one.

I haven't done much with him lately, so I haltered him, cleaned out his feet, and took him out of the pen, leaving mama in there. 

Belle kept a close eye on him

Checking out Foose

I had  Beamer tied to the horse trailer while I soaked his foot for a suspected abscess, so I took the opportunity to take Moondance over to meet his daddy.

Beamer has such a big voice! It startled Moondance but didn't seem to intimidate him. I guess because he has heard it enough because of breeding season here, just so much louder up close! 

Water boy

There is no doubt about it, Drifter loves the water.

Who me? Why yes, yes I do!

He is always splashing in his water tub, so I took him for a walk to the pond a couple of days ago. It is full to overflowing and there are ducks, turtles and geese taking advantage of it.

Of course, any birds vacated the area when he started splashing!

I have been working him in the round pen a couple of days a week, and if I take him for a walk a couple of times a week that will keep him "in training". His knees aren't closed yet so any riding other than a few minutes here and there can wait. It does make him harder to sell but I'm ok with that, I wouldn't mind if he stays until next summer, then I can get some serious riding on him. Saw an ad the other day for a 2 year old that already has 90 days riding and is in reining training. I prefer to take the 2 year old year slow, maybe 20 rides in the fall and then as a 3 year old start their more serious training. 

Jayne fits in

The herd is getting itself sorted out. Gussie and Jayne seem to be getting along quite well, Belle allows Moondance to visit Jayne but still keeps Jayne out of her personal space. They have all been getting daily pasture turnout; Drifter gets the morning and the girls get the afternoon. I have to lead Drifter through the mare herd to get him out to pasture and he is minding his manners well.
Yesterday I had Beamer out to tease the mares, and Jayne was in full standing heat, so with Ted;s help, we got her bred to Beamer. She and Beamer were both quick and efficient - it's nice having an older mare who has previously been live covered.
Afterwards I put her back in with the mares and Gussie was quite excited, following her around and talking to her and sniffing her lady parts.

I haven't had any more interest in Drifter- probably because I have him priced fairly high- but that's ok. He's a good boy and I will take my time with his training. The only thing I won't do is pony him from Gussie any more, as he bred her and I don't need him thinking about that while leading him. Ground work and going for walks will be enough. Hopefully this fall I can find someone to put a few rides on him.

Drifter was really interested in Jayne once he realized she was in heat. Sorry Drifter, she is not for you! Thank goodness for electric fence, this fenceline is charged up which is good in case Jayne came up to it. I locked him into the smaller foaling pen for the night as a precaution, it has penel fence with 2 strands of hotwire above it. And all was quiet this morning.

Li'l pest!

One more reason why I love Gussie- she is so patient! (If you all remember, patience was my key word for this year).

He did eventually lose interest when she wouldn't get up.

Adapting

The day I brought Jayne home, there was a major storm in the forecast. I had her in the foaling pen with the shelter, and Drifter in the bottom pen which has no shelter, so I put a rain sheet on him in case we got the hail that was in the forecast as well as the major rain. I wasn't sure how he would do with a blanket on overnight...



all I can say is he is well sacked out now! I did see him on my spy cam with the blanket in proper place an hour before that. Looks like he tried to roll himself right out of the blanket!
The next morning I put Jayne in with the herd, she was pacing the fence and really wanting to be in with them. It went well, Gussie ignored her, and Belle TOLD her where her boundaries were when it came to Moondance.



Jayne respectfully kept her distance, and by the next morning I could see that she is earning her place in the herd.

The river has been steadily rising, you can hear the roar from our place. Our pond is overflowing, its been a few years -3 maybe? - since it was high enough to flood the bottom corner of the horse pens.

So today I saddled Gussie and went to check the extent of the flooding. I knew we would be doing some wading to get to the dyke- sure enough! (bonus- it cleaned the mud off Gussie's feet!)

I've been hand grazing Jayne, as soon as she is accustomed to grass she will get turnout on pasture with the other ladies. She really wants just to be part of the herd. I'm going to do a search on the AQHA website and look up her foals; how many, what colors, etc.


Riding day 22

A double decision and the surprise

First the decisions.
It should come as no surprise that I am keeping Moondance.

Who, me?

 Yes you, ya li'l cutey!

The second decision- is to sell Drifter. Since Moondance is slated to be my Beamer replacement, and I am not set up to have 3 stallions here, I have offered him  up for sale. Preference will be given to a home where he will be kept as a stallion and promoted.

We already have interested parties, even from as far away as North Carolina. 

A big part of the reason for selling him is that I am not athletic enough any more to match his athletic ability, nor do I have enough income to promote him in the way he needs. 

I think Moondance will be the kind of horse that will suit my abilities in both areas, plus he is a good representative of my own breeding program. 

Speaking of breeding program....

We come to the surprise part of this post.....

As promised.....

I saw an ad on NorthernHorse.com a while ago, and fell in love with a mare....

I know, I know. 

Well somehow, with the help of friends, I made it happen and yesterday I made a trip to Alberta and returned home with one of the nicest and well bred mares I have ever had the privilege of owning. Her registered name is Zanits Miss Diamond and she is a light sorrel with a flaxen mane and tail. Her pedigree reads like a Who's Who of performance horses and she herself was a rope horse until she got a kick to the knee, then became a broodmare. Her sire's performance record:

ZAN IT 250 AQHA points. Qualified for the World's AQHA Show in Jr Reining, Sr Calf Roping, Sr Heading & Heeling, ROM.

I think my smile says it all!

She trailered really well on the long journey home and settled in quite well.

Lots of horse body language here: Belle had just pinned her ears and swished her tail, and the mare looked away, signalling submission.

She has excellent bone- she is around 14.2 hh, will measure her later.

She has a beautiful head....

and a large soft eye.  And so far has the good nature to match her looks. 

I didn't like the barn name she came with so I changed it. 

Everybody, this is Jayne, who will be joining Beamer's broodmare band.

The 3 week photo shoot

I always do a 3 week photo shoot on my foals. Moondance is really starting to chunk up. He is actually pretty laid back, while he does run around, he only does short bursts and then he isn't interested any more and I can't convince him to keep going.He just says. I'm done now thanks!

Who, me?

 Don't run with your mouth full!

 So elegant!

 Power takeoff!

 Sassy boy!

Getting down in the turn

Those long legs! Will measure him soon.

Taking a breather....

and off again!

 Powering into the turn...

One last burst...

And that's all folks! He was DONE.  Chow time!

Wordless Wednesday

Out on Gussie

A leisurely  ride on Gussie was just the thing yesterday. Short ride but long enough as Gussie has a thrushy foot that is troubling her.

Down the road to pick up the mail

 One must stop to smell the lilacs

At home we went down to check out the pond- it is quite high but not overflowing its banks yet.

I have decided to sell the saddle I bought a little while ago- nice comfy saddle, well made but the wither clearance just isn't enough for her.

I got Moondance's registration application sent off today so I have been taking photos to email in- I like this one taken this evening.

However, it isn't quite perfect for AQHA as they need to see all 4 legs clearly on the 3/4 front photo, which is the one that they put on the papers.
Tomorrow I will do his 3 week old photo shoot.

Riding day 21

Done and done!

The shelter is done and horse approved. All made from locally sourced material, from the repurposed pipe for the skids to the locally cut lumber and tin from a locally owned hardware store. Ted and his friends worked on it on the weekends as they had time and I sure do appreciate them giving up their free time to help get this done. I did make a video of it's progress but it's over 12 minutes long so not really worth putting on here, but here are photos of its progress.

 The laminated beams installed

 The back header is on, and working on the front headers

Moving it with a skid steer to finish it on site 

 On site at its location in the mare pen

Installing the facing spacers

 Ran out of lumber to finish the roof joists, had to wait another week.....

Roof trusses and facing all done and roof strapping on

 The tin is going on!

Last sheet!

The horses are now moved and little Moondance just had to do laps around his new pen!

6 ft walls

Everyone in place

There is still some finishing work to do- end caps for the pipe, bevel the edges on the walls, trim the last sheet of tin where it ran off a bit on the end,  and remove the pipe that was welded in the center of the floor as a brace for moving the building. But -dang! I have one skookum tough shelter! It measures 13 x 22 ft.

Have some more gravel to put in then the rest of the mats will go down.