Wordless Wednesday

 

Ground driving

 Rally now saddles and packs the bridle whole longeing so the next step was ground driving. I have a nice set of biothane lines made by the guy who also made the saddle I use on Rally. The wet grass doesn't affect them, so they are perfect for starting horses and yes we still have moisture- no drought here. While we do have lovely clear skies, we are barely above freezing in the mornings with fog along the river and heavy dew. 

Rally took to ground driving easily, I started with one line to the bit and longed her, then added the other line and moved more to her hip and eventually  right behind her. It didn't take long for her to get it all figured out. Today was her 3rd short session; I did manage a short video but it's kinda hard to do with both hands on the lines.

Yes I could have tightened the cinch a bit more....

We worked on steering, whoa and backing. She is pretty light and responsive once she figures things out. 

We started getting our hay in, now that the farmers have sunshine they are cutting and baling like crazy.  I now have 3 round bales that are 1500 lbs each, even our big tractor had a bit of a groan unloading them. Next up is waiting for the call to pick up the small square bales and we will be done! It's always a relief when all the winter's hay is in. 

Speaking of winter....

this has been going on for the last 3 days, and the poplar trees are getting yellow leaves. It seems summer has finally arrived but fall is knocking on the door. I predict an early winter with lots of snow, which wouldn't be a bad thing for the many areas of this province that have been in drought for a few years now. 

One more

 Yesterday was one year since I made the call on Beamer; it was a bit of a tough day but it was made a bit brighter when Jared sent me a photo of Theo. He sure does look like Beamer, although his head is more like Velvet. 

His owner is still quite happy with him. 

Rally is keeping me busy; I have sat on her a few times now, and started putting a snaffle bridle on her when I longe her.

She didn't mouth it for long and is longeing well now but I still haven't asked her to lope in the round pen yet, due to heavy morning dew making things slippery. 

I am happy that she has shown zero inclination to buck and hope it stays that way!

Some update photos

 Kai and Josie have been earning their keep team roping. 

Josie (Chickory x Beamer) on the heels, Kai (Belle x Beamer) on the head side

Rio and Derby (full brothers to Kai) had a job working on a ranch this year. I was sent these photos of Rio at work.

I don't have photos of Derby. Pistol, who is also a Belle son, has been competing in roping too. 

Pistol (Belle x Rollin in My Dually)

All the above horses are in the same home and they couldn't have landed in a better home. They also bought Minx, who is a daughter of Sparkle N Peppy, the first one of the Beamer / Belle cross. Minx's sire was grey, and she is slowly going grey. 

Minx

And last but not least I have a photo of Gussie's daughter, who I called Pie. She was born on the farm here 2  years ago and is a daughter of Shayla's late stallion, Givemathrashing.

Pie is also in a very good home. I guess that's all one can ask for as a breeder, that the foals go to homes that value them, provide good care, and use them. 

Stepping it up

 As you can see in my last post, I have started sliding on to Rally, not completely with my whole body, but getting her used to the feel of it. Today I did the same; we had a rain delay so I didnt do much of that, just worked on some ground work sidepassing, working with her hind feet and trying to get her ok with me closing the trailer door. 

Todays session:

After I took the video I actually did take my foot off the rail but didnt slide up - without someone there to assist I figured it was better to be cautious and not push my luck.

She is getting better with her hind feet but not yet at the point of letting me hold by the toe.... it will come; she is quite good with her front feet now. 

I am longeing her and marvel at how smooth her movement is, she has a lovely jog. No loping yet as my round pen is grass that is quite slippery from all the rain. 

Her hives are all gone, so saddling can resume. 

Still no word on Beamer's filly. 

Wordless Wednesday

 

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Car show

 Just for fun we went to a local car show on Saturday. Didn't get any horse stuff done as we had company all weekend, so here are some photos of a different kind of horsepower. 

We do like the oldies best!

This one reminded me of Far Guy's Desoto, Tilly:

And this next one was my favorite in the whole show:

Rally makes progress

 Since I am still waiting on the hives to heal I have done a few different things with Rally. I have a lot more done on her hinds now, still have to use the rope to aid in picking up her hind feet, really saves on my back. I reward her when she rests the toe on the ground; there I can clean them and do a little with the nippers too. Yesterday and today I was able to hold the left foot up by the toe and nip the toe on it, all except the very last little bit and it wasn't worth fighting any longer for that as she started out being a little kicky and had to be Told. A side note here, Rally is very good at reading my energy and absolutely knows when she has crossed the behavior line. No need to get physical. 

You can see the last little bit just past where the straw is pointing

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Looking much better so far

Once I finish nipping and can rasp to dress it up, that foot should look decent. Next up, finish that and do the right hind, tomorrow's project. 

I have also got her crossing the barrels asking for her to pause once her front feet are over and then step back. 

She now steps over and waits to see if I want her to go forward or back. Good girl Rally! 

I have also been working on sidepassing from the ground. Her go to when she is confused or just not wanting to do what I ask is to threaten to bite. So I am aware of that and make sure if I see that building in her to make my request even more clear. And love up on her when she does it right. Today she did a couple steps each way correctly, so that was enough. 

Trailer loading has become her reward- she sure has come a long way with that! 

I always start each session with her feet; clean the fronts and see what they need; today I asked her to bring each foot forward and put it on the trimming stand so I could rasp the flares and round the edges, and that was a success!  

Proof! 

There is still a bit to clean up on her soles and frog but that can wait now until I get the hinds done. Overall I am pretty happy with her progress. 

Patsy update- all back to normal. This morning they had tipped the salt tub over and spilled both blocks and the loose salt. Oy! Refilled and we shall see if they do that again. We had a rocking thunderstorm last night complete with torrential rain, big boomers right overhead and some pea sized hail. All 4 mares stood quietly in their shelter. I think having those older mares not worrying about all the ruckus is good for Patsy, she was as unfazed as they were. 

Salt

 Never underestimate the need for salt. 

 

 I was doing a routine check on the mares yesterday and Patsy came up to greet me. 

I was rather alarmed to see her like that. She had been standing in the shade of the mares shelter with the other horses so I sure wasn't expecting anything amiss. 

It wasn't overly hot and humid, pretty much the same as it has been for several days. 

I consulted with Shayla and with the vet. There were no signs of distress other than the rapid breathing; she was eating and drinking normally, so we ruled out colic  but gave her a dose of banamine anyway. 

Vet said I could bring her in in the morning if needed,  but by the cool of the evening she was pretty much  back to normal.  I figure she was like that for at least 5 hours. I was pretty worried about her. 

What I think happened is that the mares were not letting her at the salt tub, which was in the middle back of the shelter, and without enough salt she couldn't sweat enough to cool off. This morning she spent 5 minutes licking salt, and later I brought out a bucket of loose salt and added it it to the tub. 

She had several mouthfuls!

The other mares all helped themselves to it too  

And I moved it to a better spot  where nobody will get trapped and picked on. 

Patsy was normal today, so I think the salt was the issue, leading to anhidrosis. 

Hives

 Yesterday when I brought Rally up to work with her, she was covered in hives. 

So that meant no saddling. One step back... 

I did do some sacking out getting her to drag the tarp, no issues there. I also managed to get her to lift her right hind enough to nip and rasp some. 

Today, those hives had erupted overnight. 

They were heavily encrusted and it took a bit to get them cleaned up. 

Poor girl, they are quite sore. I put calendula salve and Melrose oil on as well as lots of fly spray all over her. 

I figure these are deer fly bites, and she sure did have a reaction to them. I am going to the vet to see if I can get anything for her over the counter as well as lots more fly spray. 

The other horses don't seem to have any bites or issues at the moment. 

Next step, the slicker

 We had a lovely session today. I started by going back to working on her back feet. She is still reluctant to hold the foot up and I'm not going to fight her about it (I would lose)  so I did more work on using the rope to get her lifting without kicking. It took a while but she finally rested her toe on the ground , left hind, so I went ahead and trimmed the heel flare and rasped it for balance. I wasn't able to do the toe, but I will take that as a win. Next time will be the right hind. 

I decided to work with the slicker without the saddle for starters, here are a couple videos of that. 

As you can see, it was another non event. 

Next, I worked on positioning her at the mounting step, she pretty much has that perfect. I can stand on it and bring her along side and get her to step one foot at a time for that sweet spot. Then I drape myself over her back where the saddle goes and rub her off side from her chest to her tail. I was able to get my feet off the step so all my weight was on her. 

I take my belt off for this so the buckle doesn't dig in her. I get my ribs right over to the off side of her spine mostly for my balance, I am quite tall and no lightweight. 

I think Rally looks forward to these sessions as much as I do. She comes to the gate to be caught, and when I turn her back in the herd she stays with me. 

This mare is building my confidence as much as I am building hers. If you would have told me this spring that I would be starting an unbroke 9 year old horse to ride I would have called you crazy. 

Saddled

 I had a couple days off from working Rally, but today we got back at it. I like to step things up a bit every time, so today instead of saddling her in the round pen I took her over to the trailer and saddled her there. She is a curious horse, likes to check things out but in a calm manner, not spooky. She had to inspect the trailer hitch as we walked by, and watch as I opened the tack room door to pull out my gear. Saddled her up like an ole broke horse, and she ground tied while I took her photo. 

Led her to the pen, and I had it in the back of my mind that if anything untoward happened, it would be then, but I needn't have worried. 

I tightened the cinch another notch and went straight to asking her to move out.

If anything, she has more whoa than go. Which suits me just fine. 

Next I flapped the stirrups, getting her used to some commotion.

I think tomorrow I will step it up by adding the tarp or a slicker to the saddle, maybe get her dragging a rope. She sure seems to take everything in stride. 

We are in the summer heat now so I am keeping it to short sessions in the early morning. 

It was back to the trailer to unsaddle, again just like an ole broke horse. I think this is her third time saddled and asked to move out, and she has never bucked or scooted. Mind you I haven't asked her to lope saddled yet as the pen has been slippery but now that it has dried up with the heat, I reckon that is going on the agenda next too. 

Rally: Bring it on

Crappy cell phone photo, she really isn't that rump high. With a horse this quiet, it sure is tempting to skip a lot of steps and just get on and ride- 25 years ago I probably would have done just that. But with age comes greater self preservation instincts, because, we know, we just don't bounce like we used to, so taking my time to go through all the checks and balances will pay off in the long run. There are so many things I can do with her before I ever get on, and it will be fun for me and for her. 

My Rally girl

 One of the things I did yesterday with Rally was to bring my step stool into the pen so that I could get her used to someone above her. She looked a little surprised at first; remember horses don't normally look above them in close quarters unless they raise their head and are looking for danger. I proceeded to rub and pet her head and neck, then along her back. She was relaxed, so I leaned over her back and rubbed her on her off side. She was fine with that so I put my weight on her as I leaned over her. She was fine with that, which made me really happy!

Today I started on her back feet again- not a lot of progress, but less desire to kick out. 

Then I figured, what the heck, so I went and got a saddle pad to sack her out with. Well that was a non event. Threw it up on her a few times and she looked  at me as if to say, what next?

That pad looks good on you, Rally!

Note the ground tie

Well what next indeed? So I went and got my little saddle. Let her sniff it and check it out, then plunked it on her back. 

Ok, another non event. So why not.... I went ahead and fastened the cinches. 

Well, no problem. Note the ground tie again. So here I am thinking, what will she do when I ask her to move? Because that is often when they blow up on their first saddling. 

Can I just say, I love this horse? I got the distinct feeling that she has been waiting for this for a long time. I like to take things slow with her, partly because it keeps me focused and patient. 

There are lots of things to work on with her, such as getting her to trust me with her back feet, getting her ok with being closed in the trailer as well as hauling, and longeing her saddled. 

I may even ride her at some point....time will tell. 

Next up

 I finally got a decent trim on Rally's front feet. Now I am no farrier just an old lady with a bad back, and Rally is not really foot broke, so it has taken me a long time doing things a little at a time. I found that she is willing to lift her feet much better when I ask with my lariat. 

 

Eventually her feet look like this:

The next day I did clean up the sole with my hoof knife and rasped more flare from the hoof wall. 

A long way from perfect but so much better than this, which is what they looked like the day I bought her. 

Today I started on working with her hind feet. They have been self trimming lately; with all the rain and soggy pasture her feet are pretty soft and some chunks have come off. She wasn't too happy with me lifting and holding her foot so I went to square one, just asking her to lift her feet with my rope- so much easier on my back. 

I did this with both hinds, and when she would lift and set each foot down without kicking, that was enough for today. 

I was also able to send her in to the trailer twice today, yay! She kinda looked at me as if to say, "aren't you coming in?" No, Rally, you are a big girl now you can do it on your own! 

I have also done a bit with Patsy, she is so refreshingly easy after working with Rally! 

I got her started on longeing, she goes over the bridge without any worries, and the tarp work was easy too. 

In fact, so easy that Shayla asked me to introduce her to being blanketed. 

Easy peasy! Patsy also heads straight for the trailer if I turn her loose and has to check for grain in there. One thing I do have to work on with her is backing, both on the ground and backing out of the trailer. 

Always something to do! 

Sunday Silence

 

Some pretties

 I finally have flowers! My new flower garden has these:

Lavatera

The first bloom on the Jackmani clematis

Yellow marigolds

As well as the pincushion flowers and pink snapdragons and pink  zinnias that are a bit faded and need to be pruned to promote new blooms. The two roses are taking their time to bud, guess they aren't fond of the cooler rainy weather. 

My older flower garden I let the calendula and cosmos that reseeded take over, only new stuff in there are snapdragons and my garden peas which are going to be harvestable soon. 

Calendula and cosmos

I enjoy having pretties to gaze upon on my walks to the barnyard!

Rally now leads into the trailer perfectly, so I started working on her feet again. She is getting pretty good with her left front, I have nipped it and rasped it, a little at a time. It needs more but its a lot better. Her right front she is more reluctant with, I did get to clean it today. Every day, a little progress. Good thing I'm not in a hurry! 

The most important thing in their world is grazing! Humans are definitely second place. 

The farrier was here yesterday and did the other 3; she loved Patsy, who was actually pretty good for her first trim. I noticed with Velvet that she cant handle having the farrier put her front feet between the knees for trimming, it cranks her leg out too much angle from her shoulder and her old bones cant take that any more. Velvet is short and wide so there isn't much room under her. I asked the farrier to not do that but to trim her low; it meant she had to do everything one handed as she held the foot but Velvet was much happier. I don't think the farrier was though.